Moving and Starting Over
by knab
Summary: Connie, Lula, and Steph decide to move, change names, and start over. How will they adjust and what about the people they leave behind? Will they ever let their friends know where they are? Read and Review. Rated M for language and soon smut.
1. Chapter 1

_An: Don't own them not making any money. A lot of the story is already typed so updates will be frequent. It isn't beta'd at this point so all mistakes are mine and mine alone. I appreciate reviews they let me know what you think so I can make the next chapter better so please drop a review. Happy Reading ; )_

**I had just got out of the shower and was getting dressed when I heard the door to my apartment open. I knew it was Joe and I knew what I had to do. It was time I couldn't do the rollercoaster relationship anymore. I hollered out to him "Let me go get dressed I'll be out in a minute" I walked into my bedroom and shut the door. I know he could probably figure out what was going on. I pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a t shirt and walked into the living room, flopping down on the couch. Joe followed my lead and flopped down next to me. I looked over at him and couldn't even force a smile. **

"**Joe, I can't do this anymore. This isn't working for me, I know you want to settle down, get married, and start having kids and honestly I don't, not now maybe not ever. I think it would be best if we were permanently off. Please understand that we both deserve to be happy and I'm not really happy. You hate my job and my friends but mostly you want me to change who I am. I can't do that and be happy." I looked him in the eyes the whole time while speaking to him. Hoping he would see in my eyes the honesty of what I was saying and know that this was hard for me too. He sat in silence for a few minutes after I finished just looking at me. He startled me when he finally spoke**

"**Cupcake, we can work this out" I put my hand up to stop him from speaking. **

"**Joe, no I'm not going to change my mind. This is for the best. I hope we can still be friends but I know that it won't be easy especially for a while." He nodded and stood up walking to the door.**

"**Be Happy Cupcake and maybe we can be friends eventually but not right now" I nodded as he walked out the apartment, shutting the door behind him. I started to cry. I had held in it while speaking to him but watching him leave was so hard. I knew I needed to dry my eyes since Connie and Lula would be showing up soon. We were planning on talking about exactly what are next move was going to be. Vinnie was setting up shop in a Mobile Home since the Bond's office was destroyed. I walked into my bathroom and splashed water on my face to help with the red puffy eyes. I had just walked out of the bathroom when I heard the knocking on my door. I walked over and looked out the peephole and sure enough Connie and Lula had arrived. I let them in and we all piled up in my living room. I smiled at the girls as we all flopped down on the couch.**

"**So white girl, what do you think we should do?" Lula asked**

"**I don't know. I'm not sure I want to continue working for Vinnie though." **

"**Girl, I thought about that and I know you two may not like my idea and if not we can throw out off the table" Connie asked looking back and forth at me and Lula. We both nodded for her to continue**

"**Okay, well what about if we move out of state. See, I talked to some of my family members and they are willing to help us get new identities and we could start our own business." She stopped talking and looked back and forth at us again. I was thinking about it, I had no reason to truly stay in Trenton. Joe and I were over, my mother always griped at me, and Ranger well we are just friends because his life doesn't lend itself to relationships. A fresh start would be nice. I finally looked up at Connie and smiled**

"**I like it Con, where and what kind of business?" I asked and Lula nodded excitedly**

"**Well, I was thinking New York City since it isn't too far away and maybe like Private Investigators to start out and then slowly build up and venture into skip tracing and body guarding. You two have experience with skip tracing so I thought we could easily venture into it. Here is the thing though, when I talked to my family they said they would loan us all the money we would need to get started until we could start making a profit and then they get fifty percent of everything we make until we pay them back completely but we all have to get trained. They want us trained in self defense and weapons." I thought about it and this time Lula spoke first**

"**I say let's do it. Girls, we could be total bad asses. Who is going to train us and when do we leave?"**

"**I thought we could leave immediately, my uncle has a house right outside the city he said we could use until we could find a place of our own that we could afford. He also has already set up our new identities. All we need to pack is our clothing and shoes. Just necessities. We'll have to find someone to train us" I nodded and got up and started to my bedroom. I looked back and noticed they were both still sitting on the couch.**

"**Are you two going to come help me pack or not?" I asked. They both hopped off the couch and we all went in my bedroom, I started pulling clothes our of my dresser while Connie and Lula started with the stuff in my closet. We made quick work of the bedroom and then I went in my bathroom and started throwing all my stuff in a duffle bag. The girls had put my bags by the door, I grabbed my cookie jar and handed it to Connie and grabbed Rex's cage. I was ready. I smiled at the girls**

"**Let's load this stuff up and then I need to talk to Dillon. I'll call my dad when we leave here so he's not worried." Lula looked at me skeptically**

"**What about Batman? You can't leave town and not tell him. He'll freak out!" Lula said**

"**I'm gonna leave a note with Dillon to give to Ranger" I said, it wasn't a big deal. He didn't want a relationship why would he care. A note should be enough for him. We started loading all my stuff up and I had a thought**

"**Um Connie, what about our cars, they are registered in our real names and we could be found." I questioned**

"**Taken care of, we will leave these cars at my house, my uncle got us new cars, its part of the loan and they are registered in our new names. If we didn't do this he was just going to sell them." I smiled excitedly and continued loading up my car. We finally had the rest of my stuff loaded and Lula looked at me**

"**White girl, we are going to head to my house to start packing up my stuff, just head over there when your done." I nodded and started to the front door of my building. I went down to Dillon's apartment and knocked. He opened the door wearing jeans and an old t shirt, he smiled when he noticed it was me.**

"**Hey Steph, what's up?" He asked**

"**I'm moving out, I've already packed up everything I'm taking with me. All that's left is my furniture. I will be unreachable so I wanted to know if you could give a note to someone who will surely come looking for me. Actually three notes. If you have some paper I'll write them and explain everything when I'm done writing." He nodded and walked over to a desk he had and pulled out paper and pen handing them to me. I was writing a note to Ranger, the merry men, and Joe. I sat down on Dillon's couch and started writing**

_**Ranger, **_

_**I've decided to make some changes in my life and get a fresh start. I think I need a fresh start. Please understand. I will try to contact you when I am ready. I can only hope you will understand. I love you.**_

_**Love, **_

_**Babe**_

**That one was easy to right, I can only hope the others will be to. I folded Ranger's note and wrote his name on the front. I grabbed another piece of paper to write the next one.**

_**Guys,**_

_**I'm going to be leaving town for awhile, I'm going to get a fresh start. I think it would be good for me. I will miss you guys and I love you all. You have been great friends and brothers. Please understand. I hoped you know I have to do this. **_

_**Love,**_

_**Bombshell**_

**That one was easy to. I folded it and wrote Merry Men on the front. I don't know if Joe will come but to be on the safe side, I figured I should leave him a note.**

_**Joe,**_

_**I'm sorry things didn't or couldn't work for us. I couldn't be what you wanted and you couldn't love me for who I am. I hate that things had to be that way. I'm leaving town for awhile. I hope you find someone wonderful who can be what you want and deserve. Please know I do love you, I'm just not in love with you. I'm sorry**_

_**Love, **_

_**Stephanie**_

**As I finished writing Joe's a few tears fell. I'm leaving behind everything that I know. I grabbed my purse off Dillon's floor and started pulling out all the trackers in it and anything that I couldn't honestly say where it came from. Once I finished that I handed Dillon the letters and trackers. **

"**Dillon, the guy that comes here that is always in black that's Ranger give him the letter with his name on it, the one that says Merry Men and all of these" I said handing him those letters and trackers. **

"**This one goes to Joe, the cop that was here a lot" I said handing him Joe's letter. **

"**Make sure they get them, I'm not sure how long I'll be gone before they figure it out, but make sure you keep those until they come by." Dillon nodded and hugged me,**

"**I'm going to miss you Steph, be careful" I smiled weakly at Dillon and walked to the door. Before I walked out without turning around I said**

"**Bye Dillon, thanks for being a great Super" I closed the door behind me. I walked out to my car and climbed in calling my dad. Knowing once we were at Connie's I would be turning my phone off. After three rings my dad answered the phone**

"**Hello" he said in his gravely voice**

"**Hey daddy, I need to talk to you but I don't want mom to know you are talking to me."**

"**It's okay pumpkin she is at Giovichini's." I felt the tears welling up behind my eyes.**

"**Daddy, I'm going to be leaving town. I will keep in touch with you but I will not be using this phone anymore. When I get a new number I will give it to you but you can't give it to anyone not even mom or grandma. I don't want any risks of anyone knowing where I am. I will also be under a new identity." I said as the tears began to fall**

"**Okay pumpkin, I understand. Stay safe and when are you leaving?"**

"**I'm leaving now. I'm sorry daddy. I love you"**

"**I love you to pumpkin, and don't be sorry, just let me know how you are and let me know your number when you get one." **

"**Thanks Daddy, Bye" And I hung up, I sat in my car for a little while longer crying and finally pulled away when the tears stopped. I pulled into Lula's and noticed they were already loading up her car. I got out to help**

"**Damn White girl, What the hell took you so long?" Lula asked hands on her hips**

"**Sorry, I called my dad and sat in the parking lot while I talked to him" They both nodded and we finished loading Lula's car and followed Connie to her house. When we pulled up to Connie's the first thing we noticed were three new cars. One was blood red, another was blue, and the third was silver. They were all Mercedes GL 550. I couldn't believe it, they were gorgeous. Connie smiled at me and Lula as we stared at the cars. **

"**The red is yours Lula, the blue is yours Steph, and the silver is of course mine. Keys as well as our new identities, credit cards, bank account information, and new cell phones are in the glove boxes of them. I've already packed up all my stuff and it is loaded in my car. So lets get all of your stuff moved to yours and we can leave. The address is programmed into the GPS so if we get split up while driving you'll still know where to go." Me and Lula both nodded and started moving stuff from our old cars to our new cars. I couldn't wait to drive my new car! We finished getting all of our things loaded and Lula and I both started really checking out our cars. Mine had tan leather interior and was fully loaded. It had everything I could ever want in a car, CD player, DVD player, GPS, sunroof, and third row seating. Lula's was the same with black interior and Connie's also had black interior. After we had thoroughly checked out our cars we pulled out our new ID's. My name is now Elizabeth Marie Russo, Lula is Rachelle Alana Masters, and Connie is Clara Lynn Ricci. We pulled out our new cell phones and we had each others numbers already programmed in. We were ready to go we all started to get in our cars when Connie hollered at us.**

"**Hey, we should all have a full tank of gas so we shouldn't have to stop. I put small ice chests in the back seats with drinks and snacks if you need them." We smiled and nodded and climbed into our cars. Time to start our new lives. I'm determined to be happy and maybe I'll meet someone new or maybe someone from Trenton will realize what its like to not have me in their life at all. I want someone who loves me for me and supports me, someone who cherishes me. That would be nice, very nice, maybe all of us would get our special someone. I really was going to miss Trenton, at least I wasn't leaving alone. I had two of my best friends with me on this new journey. It was going to be good I could feel it. **

_**Don't forget to leave a review.**_


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I don't own them and am not making any money. Please leave me a review. It lets me know what you think and if I should change anything. Happy Reading. ; )

_**Rangers POV**_

**I had just finished up a takedown and the paperwork associated with it and decided I would go check on my babe. I drove to her apartment and all the lights were off, I wasn't surprised as it was past midnight. Getting out of my car I can't help but feel regret at the fact that this all I will be able to give. Friends, late night visits, and kisses in the alley. She can't offer less than a relationship and I can't offer more than casual sex. Finally making it to her door, I get my lock picking kit out and make quick work of the locks. Opening the door the first thing I noticed was I didn't hear Rex's wheel, after doing a quick walk through Steph and all her clothing and shoes were gone. I called Rangeman's control room to pull up her trackers thinking she may have moved in with Morelli. Cal answered the phone**

"**Rangeman"**

"**Cal pull up Steph's trackers and give me her location" I said. I heard typing and knew he was pulling them up after a few minutes he came back on the line.**

"**Personal ones are showing her apartment Boss, Car tracker is showing Connie's. Is everything okay?" Cal asked me with worry obvious in his voice. **

"**She's not here and all of her clothing is gone. I'm going to look around some more and then I will talk with her super" I said as I disconnected. I punched in speed dial one for her cell phone and it went straight to her voicemail. I left her a message**

"**Babe, Call me" and I disconnected. I started toward her Super's apartment hoping he knew where she was and what was going on. I banged on his door. He finally opened the door wearing just a pair of boxers. It was obvious I had woke him up but I didn't care.**

"**uh.. Uh…. Who are you?" he asked nervously**

"**I'm Steph's friend I'm looking for her, do you know where she is?"**

"**Your Ranger right?" I nodded **

"**She gave me something to give to you" He left his door open and walked away. He came back to the door holding two pieces of folded up paper and all of her trackers. I took them and went back to her apartment. I sat down on the sofa and called Tank**

"**Yo" he answered on the first ring**

"**Come to Steph's apartment and bring Lester and Bobby" I said**

"**On our way boss" I disconnected. I opened the note that said Ranger on it and read it.**

_**Ranger, **_

_**I've decided to make some changes in my life and get a fresh start. I think I need a fresh start. Please understand. I will try to contact you when I am ready. I can only hope you will understand. I love you.**_

_**Love, **_

_**Babe**_

**I can't believe she left. I looked at the other piece of paper and it said Merry Men on the front I opened it and read it. **

_**Guys,**_

_**I'm going to be leaving town for awhile, I'm going to get a fresh start. I think it would be good for me. I will miss you guys and I love you all. You have been great friends and brothers. Please understand. I hoped you know I have to do this. **_

_**Love,**_

_**Bombshell**_

_**I had just finished reading it when my core team walked in. I handed them the notes as I took one more look around. It looked like I may have lost my friendship with my Babe. I walked to my car and drove to Connie's all the light were off and I looked inside, it was obvious no one was there. I picked open the locks and went inside. Shit was all I could think, There were no clothes or shoes. It appears they may have left together. I called Vinnie. He answered on the third ring half asleep**_

"_**Who the hell is this"**_

"_**Vinnie" I said in a menacing voice**_

"_**Ranger, what can I do for you?" He asked sounding somewhat nervous**_

"_**Do you know where Stephanie and Connie are?" I asked**_

"_**Don't know where they are. Connie turned in their notices along with Lula's something about they were leaving town to get a fresh start. I don't know and don't particularly care." He replied. I ended the call and threw my phone. Damn it they left together and there is no way to know where they went. I'll have to run searches and check their credit cards. I went back to Rangeman and straight to my office. My core team was already there waiting on me. I ran all the credit cards and bank information through on all three of them. They had each closed their bank accounts and cancelled their credit cards. I looked at the guys**_

"_**Nothing, we have nothing. Whatever they are doing they are going about it smartly." They nodded**_

"_**I can't believe Beautiful left" Lester said as he got up and walked out hanging his head. I knew he would take it hard. They were pretty close and I think he might be in love with her. I looked at Tank and Bobby**_

"_**Connie and Lula left too." They both shook their heads as they got up and walked out of my office. I had to find her, I just wasn't sure how so far it appeared they were disappearing.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Standard Disclaimer. Drop a review so I know what you think. Happy Reading ; )**_

_Stephanie's POV_

We had arrived at the house, more like mini mansion a little after dark. We all had keys to the house on our key chains. It was a little outside of the city and was in a gated community. It also had a ten foot privacy fence completely around it and a code to open the gate. You could only tell there was a house there but nothing else because of the fence. The front yard was big and had a circle driveway, there was a four car garage to the left of the house. The house was all brick and had flowers of all sorts planted around the front. We pulled our cars into the garage and parked with the door closing automatically behind us. There was a door that led us from the garage into the house. Walking through that door led us into a large laundry room with a washer and dryer. It was plain white and had hardwood flooring, walking out of the laundry room led us to the kitchen. There were stainless steel appliances and it was done in burgundy. The kitchen was very large with an island in the middle, To the left of the kitchen was the dining room with a table for twelve. It was huge, also done in burgundy to match the kitchen. We walked through the living room and that led us to the living room, it was done in a cream color with deep brown microfiber furniture. There was a sofa, loveseat, oversized chair and ottoman, and a recliner. There was a big screen t.v. mounted on the wall with a bookshelf to the left. On the right of the t.v. was a video cabinet with what looked to be every movie ever made. We made our way to the staircase which was also gorgeous, we walked up the stairs and there were four bedroom all with en suite baths. All the same size and set up, there really was no master bedroom. We walked into each room and looked at them. The first room was done in blues of all different shades, it had a four poster king sized bed in oak with a matching dresser and armoire. It had a huge walk in closet and the bathroom was done to match the bedroom with a whirlpool tub and stand alone shower. It had a single vanity but was large. The next room was set up the same but the colors were in all shades of greens, the bathroom was also the same, the furniture in this room however was done in cherry. The next room was done in yellows and was once again the same except it had maple furniture. The last room we walked into was done in reds, the furniture in this room was Walnut. All the furniture was the same style. We walked back downstairs and Connie led us to a closet by the front door. Once she opened it she moved some coats out of the way and we came to a steel door, she entered a code and that opened a palm scanner on the wall. It scanned her palm then she entered more codes and had me and Lula scan our palms. We had been quiet through everything taking it all in. Finally the door opened to a staircase going down into a basement. We went down and realized this for the time being was our office. It was all very plain with three desks each with their own computer and phone. It wasn't much but it was a start, Connie then walked us to another set of doors and did the same code and scan and had me and Lula do the same and that opened a door that led to a small weapons room. There were more guns than I had ever seen in my life, there were also knives and smoke bombs. In one corner was also kevlar vests and things to protect us when we were on dangerous jobs. We had practically everything we would need to start out. On each desk was a picture of us, that's how we knew which desk was ours. I looked at the picture and it was a picture of me and Ranger outside the bond's office. I smiled at the picture and then frowned thinking I probably wouldn't see him again. I started opening the drawers on my desk to check everything out and we had cute little business cards with our names and phone numbers on them. There was no company name it just said private investigators. Lula was at her desk doing the same thing I had been doing, I looked over at Connie and she was watching us smiling.

"Connie, this is great. Really but can we figure who is gonna be in which rooms I want to bring my stuff in and get some sleep."

"Sure Steph, but remember we are going to have to start using our new names. Do you know which room you want?" She replied

"I like the blue room" I said

"I like the red" Lula said

"Then its all settled I'll take the green room. Tomorrow we need to look into getting training" Lula and I nodded and started up the stairs to start unloading our cars. We got everything unloaded and put in our rooms. I started unpacking mine and got all of my things put away and curled up on the bed for some sleep.

I woke the next morning to Connie and Lula waving coffee in front of my face. I smiled

"Thank You" They both nodded and I sucked down my coffee before getting out of the bed and heading for the bathroom. When Connie called out to me

"Hey get ready as soon as you are done we are going to check out some gyms and a couple gun ranges." I nodded and kept walking. I took a quick shower and got dressed in jeans and a t shirt, I put on a pair of doc marten boots and threw my hair up in a messy ponytail. The girls were waiting for me down stairs. I smiled at them and Connie handed me a gun. I looked at her and tried to raise an eyebrow but probably raised both. She giggled

"We have to dress the part." I nodded taking the gun and putting it in the waistband of my jeans. We walked in the garage and got in Connie's car with Lula in the back. Lula was the first to speak

"I need some donuts. Especially if we are going to be exercising I'll need my energy." Connie and I looked at each other and giggled. We drove to a donut shop named King's Donuts and ordered two dozen donuts and then we were off to the gyms. The first we stopped at was awful, the equipment was old and didn't look like it worked half of the time. So we went to the second one, it was nice but they didn't offer personal trainers, self defense, or karate. It was out to. We got to the third one starting to fell frustrated and it was the best yet. They didn't have any personal trainers currently but did offer self defense and karate and numerous other things that could be of help and you got unlimited tanning with the membership. We were sold on it even though Lula won't tan. We had been talking to a young girl who answered the phones after we had finished our tour she called someone and a few minutes later a man who looked like he could work for Rangeman walked up to us.

"Hi Ladies, my name Eric Santora and I'm the owner here. I like to introduce myself to any new clients. If you would follow me I have membership contracts in my office." WE all nodded afraid to speak because of all the drooling we were doing. Eric was hot, he had tanned skin with big green eyes and a crooked smile that reminded me of Les. I knew I was going to have to find a way to call Les. We had gotten rather close and he had become one of my best friends. Eric's office was large with windows facing a small park, he had a huge mahogany desk with three visitor chairs in front of it. He gestured us to sit down. After we were seated my Burg manners kicked in. I reached my hand across the desk,

"My name is Elizabeth Russo, these are my business partners Rachelle Masters and Clara Ricci." I said introducing them

"What kind of business?" He questioned

"We are starting out with private investigating, once we are more established and making a profit we hope to start skip tracing or bounty hunting and body guarding. Elizabeth and Rachelle both have experience in skip tracing but we would like to be better trained since we will be running our own business." Connie/ Clara said. Me and Lula/ Rachelle nodded.

"I have a better offer, you can still use the gym for the equipment but I have a friend who just got out of the military he was a drill sergeant and I could see if he could train you more with self defense and things like that" We all nodded. Lula was actually staying quiet but glancing over at her I could tell she wasn't feeling well.

"That sounds great I'll give you are cards and you can have him contact us. I dug one of my cards out of my purse and handed it to him. Connie and Lula did the same thing, he handed us contracts to look over and they were pretty basic. We all signed them and paid for six months of membership. We handed the papers to him and he gave us keycards to get in the gym without having to ring the bell. I smiled at him and realized I didn't know the name of whoever was supposed to be calling us.

"I'm sorry you didn't mention the name of the friend who would be calling us."

"Sorry, his name is Danny Dugats" He replied. Connie/Clara smiled at him

"Thanks for you help" He nodded at us as we left the gym and went back to Connie's car. We loaded up and headed to a little bistro that we had passed on our way to the gym. We went in and had a seat at a booth, we ordered our drinks and we all ordered a club sandwich and chips.

"So Clara, how are we going to get business?" I asked being in public we had to use our new identities.

"My uncle was going to put the word out and since we have family here, I'm sure he told them so they could get the word out. He said we weren't technically to start our business until Monday. Since it's Wednesday we have some time to try to get our names out or we can relax until we get bombarded with business" She said having a lot more faith than I did.

"White girl I say we go shopping how about you?" Lula said looking at me

"I say that sounds like a fabulous idea" I replied looking at Connie

"I say lets eat and get some shopping in. We should come up with some kind of uniform." Connie said. We all sat and thought about that. Rangemen wear all black but there is no way us three could ever wear all black. I thought of all the colors that might work.

"How about Blue or Khaki? Or even both we could do Blue in the winter and khaki in the summer. WE could wear blue or khaki cargo pants with matching shirts but we should come up with a company name so we could have it put on our shirts." The both looked at me and I could tell they were thinking about

"I like the idea of changing colors for winter and summer and I think blue and khaki would be go" Connie replied

"I guess it would be okay but I think we should wear brighter clothes." Connie and I just laughed. Our food came out and none of us talked while eating. After we finished we made our way to the mall and got some clothes and found a uniform store on the way back to the house. We pulled up and sat in the car thinking of names.

"What about Dynagirls?" Lula asked

"No way Lula, we need something neutral in case we ever hire men." She shrugged and went back to thinking.

"I got it" Connie shouted from the driver's seat. Lula and I both looked at her

"Short name would be TNT, long name would Track N Trace" I looked at Lula who looking at me and We nodded.

"I like just TNT, don't nobody need to know what it stands for" said Lula. I nodded again. We got out of the car and went into the building to order uniforms. We ordered five pairs of pants for each of us in each color, so we would have ten pairs of pants. We all ordered five polo shirts in each color, five t shirts in each color, and five tank tops in each color. They said they could have our uniforms ready by Monday for an extra charge which we paid. Apparently we had an unending supply of money from the Family. Works for me. We drove back to the house in silence all of us thinking I'm sure. We were brought out of the silence by the shrill sound of my phone ringing. I looked at my phone knowing I wouldn't recognize the number, but hell who knew it. I was still looking at it when it clicked I gave Eric my number for his friend. I decided for semi professional when I answered

"Elizabeth Russo"

"Ms. Russo, my name is Danny Dugats and A friend Eric gave me your card and said you were looking for someone to train you."

"Yes, Mr. Dugats that is correct. Me and two friends are opening a business here and we are needing proper training. Is there a time and a place we can meet you and we can discuss this further?"

"Yes m'am, there is a café down the street from the gym, It's Henry's café. If you and you partners would like to meet me there say 7 pm and we can discuss a business deal."

"That sounds perfect we will see you then" And I disconnected. I looked at the girls Lula was looking at me expectantly and Connie was looking at the road but kept glancing back at me in the rearview mirror.

"We have a meeting with Danny Dugats at 7 tonight at Henry's Café down the street from the gym"

"White girl, this is gonna be fun. We are gonna be total badasses!" Lula hollered from the front seat. Me and Connie both giggled.

We finally made it back to the house and only had a couple hours to get ready to go meet who I hope will be our trainer since we need to get started asap. I ran upstairs to change into a nicer shirt and Lula was going to take a nap since she wasn't feeling well, Connie was going to call some gun ranges since we didn't make it to any. I picked out a pale pink v-neck shirt to go with my jeans and kept my Doc Martens on. As soon as I finished changing shirt I went down to the office we had in the basement. I was going to check my email and see if I had anything important in it. I wouldn't respond to emails because then they could trace me but I could check email without anyone knowing. I got down to our offices and Connie was sitting at her desk on the phone. She smiled when I walked in but continued with her conversation. I turned on my computer and set up a username and password so you couldn't just get into it. I pulled up yahoo and checked email, I had emails for viagra, weight loss, and local singles. Really? I hate the junk mail I receive. I contuned scrolling down and found a few emails I had to read one was from Lester, one was from Mary Lou, and the last was from Joe. Well shit, we haven't even been gone a full 24 hours. I opened Lester's first.

_Stephanie, _

_Beautiful, I know you have had a lot going on and that you needed to get away I wish you would have told me and I would have helped you go on a vacation. For some reason I feel like this is more than just a vacation. I hope you know you can call me if you need anything. I know you probably won't respond to this email. I just wanted you to know. Be safe_

_(You know you want me) _

_Lester._

I had tears in my eyes as I finished reading his email. Lester who was a playboy was also a great guy. I clicked on Mary Lou's email next.

_Steph, girl I've been trying to call you when I heard you and Joe split for good but couldn't get ahold of you and then I heard you left town and quit Vinnie's. I hope you call me or email me back soon. Be careful Steph._

_Mary Lou._

Part of me says Mary Lou cares the other part says she wants gossip. Oh Well, she won't be getting either. I opened Joe's email

_Cupcake,_

_I just got your note about you leaving and I think it's good for you. I do hope you come back, Trenton won't be the same without you. Be safe Cupcake._

_Joe_

_No email from Ranger not that I was to surprised but apart of me had kind of hoped he would try to get a message to me somehow. I looked at the clock and still had about forty five minutes until we needed to leave. I decided I would check out the programs on our computers. I'll be damned we have the same search programs as Rangeman which will make it a lot easier on me since I already know how to run them. I entered in Danny Dugats name and let name searches run. It only pulled up three with a military background and one was deceased so I marked him off, another was in his seventies so I marked him off. That left only one and he was in his thirties. I got his basic info and went back and entered it into an in-depth search program and played solitaire while I waited for it to finish. I looked around the room and noticed a printer in the corner so as soon as the search was finished I could print it and we could all review it. About 10 minutes later the search was done. I printed and grabbed it off the printer and looked over at Connie/Clara_

"_Hey, I just ran a search on Danny Dugats, why don't we get Lula and go over it before we meet with him"_

"_That sounds like a good idea." Connie replied. We walked into the living room and Connie went to go get Lula so we could meet up in the kitchen and go over everything I found. Lula and Connie came down the stairs fairly quickly and Lula was looking a lot better. _

"_Should we call each other by her new names even in private." Lula asked_

"_I think we should that way it becomes natural" Connie said_

"_Yeah, it would probably be best so it becomes ingrained in our heads." I replied. Lula nodded. I picked up the papers from the research I had done but we really needed to get going. _

"_How about we go over my search on the way to the café?" I asked_

"_That's fine" Connie said and Lula nodded her head. We locked up the house and set the alarm and got in Connie's SUV. As soon as we were all buckled in I started on my research_

"_Danny Dugats, 34, son of Robert and Mary Dugats out of Shreveport, Louisiana. Dad was in the military and they lived on various different bases. Danny is an only child joined the Army at 18 and was excepted into Delta Force. He was a member of Delta Force until 3 months ago when he didn't reenlist. He was also a Drill Sergeant and trained new Delta Force members for a while. Upon leaving the military he moved here. His military record is sealed due to the types of missions he was on. He isn't married and no known children. Physical Description is 6'5, 240 lbs, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Looks to me like he could work out just fine. Shit if all goes well maybe we could hire him." _

"_Damn white girl he sounds a lot like batman other than physical you know" Lula said while Connie nodded. _

"_Hey I'm not a big fan of the name Elizabeth so since we are only going to be using only our new identities please call my Liz." _

"_You got it skinny ass white girl but I think Rachelle is a lot of name so how bout we just call me Chell"_

"_Ok so Elizabeth will be Liz, and Rachelle is Chell, and I'll stay Clara" Connie said._

"_What are we doing tomorrow?" Lula asked_

"_Hopefully training and picking out a gun range. I called some while you were sleeping and Liz was running that search and narrowed it down to two. Maybe if Danny decides to train us he can steer us to the right one." Connie no more than finished speaking and we pulled up to Henry's Café. We all had a stun gun, pepper spray, and cuffs with us. I'm not real sure on the cuffs but who cares. We got of the car and I took the search papers and stuck them in my purse to take in with us. We walked in and I spotted him right away and Holy Mary Mother of Marshmallows he was gorgeous. Connie and Lula were both gaping at him. I finally elbowed both of them. Come on you two we need to look professional. _


	4. Chapter 4

_**An: Standard Disclaimer. Please leave a review that's the only way I know if you like or dislike it and know what you would like to read. **_

Come on you two we need to look professional.

"I'll professional your ass off. You just watch" Lula said causing Connie and I to roll our eyes. We finally made our way over to Danny and I shook hands with him first.

"I take it your Danny" I said with a smile and all I got was nod. Well I'll be damned if he wasn't like one of the Merry Men, Hot, muscled, and doesn't say much.

"I'm Liz, this is Chell and Clara" He nodded again. Shit its like a bobble head doll. Connie looked like she was finally getting her wits back.

"Danny, I'm sure you have questions about us and what are new business is going to be." Connie said while staring at him but hey at least she had her mouth closed.

"Yes, I do have a few questions and once they are answered we can work out the details."

"We'll answer the best we can" replied Lula sounding more professional than I had ever heard from her.

"To start what kind of business are you opening that makes you want training?"

"We are starting out as Private Investigators and hope after establishing ourselves we can move onto skip tracing and body guarding. Chell and I have both been Fugitive Apprehension Agents before but we were not formally trained to do so. Since we are going to be running our own business we figure it best if we are properly trained to handle any situation that may arise." I told him proud of myself for speaking like a true business owner.

"Eric told me a little about that. So I can assume you want Self Defense, defensive driving, and weapons training?"

"Yes that is exactly what we would like." Connie answered.

"I think all of that is feasible there are a few other things I can throw in there to make you even better. Next is payment for providing my services. We will need to work out how much you will pay me to train you and I would also like to ask if after you are trained if you like the way I do things about hiring me permanently."

"I think it would be in our best interest to hire you permanently at some point as we have already done a background check on you" Lula responded with a smile when a shocked look crossed his face.

"You did a background check on me?" He asked sounding a little flabbergasted.

"Well, we are opening our own business and believe that anyone we plan on working with needs to be trustworthy." He nodded which I know meant it made sense but don't know why he was so shocked that we checked his background. After about thirty more minutes of hashing out details we shook hands and planned to start training at 6 am. I know I hate getting up early but this is very important and I for one am excited. We gave Danny directions to the house so he could be there at 6 to start our training and he knew a gun range he could take us to.

_2 weeks later_

Danny kicked our asses into high gear starting the day after we met him. The first few days up until we got our first case he worked us from 6 am until 9 pm only stopping when it was time for us to eat. He took away our sweets and had us on a meal plan. Healthy food only. Bleck! As much as I hated spending so much time working out all of us did. I must say we were looking hot. Lula was dropping pounds like crazy and so was Connie, I dropped a few pounds but mainly I was looking very toned. We had our first case a few days after we started up and it was an easy case. A woman wanted to know if her husband was having an affair, we followed him around for days mainly during his lunch hour and when he got off work and took a lot of pictures of him and his mistress. Needless to say his wife was not very happy with him but loved us. Other than that case we have only had one other case and it was the same thing, wife wanted to know if husband was having an affair, he wasn't and his wife was very happy. Today though we are going to talk to some Bail Bond's Companies about doing skip tracing for them. We would only be taking bonds that were $50,000 and up otherwise it wasn't worth our time. We had gotten really good at self defense and using our weapons and Danny would be helping us with our FTA's. He is now a permanent employee not only does he train us but he will be helping us with any and all cases and skips we get.

After speaking to three different bail bond's offices we would now be doing skip tracing for all of them. We were all excited as this would bring in a lot more money. We hade three FTA's we needed to hunt down and pick up so we decided we would head to our house to run searches on them before we got started. The information from the Bond's office was minimal. We had gotten Danny a desk set up in our basement office so he had a place to work to. We hoped that in a few weeks we could get an actual office building set up.

We got back to the house and Connie was going to throw something together for lunch while Lula, Danny, and I ran searches. I finished my search rather quickly and Lula and Danny finished theirs about the same time. Danny has taught us to spend more time in quiet and honestly the peacefulness was kind of nice. Don't get me wrong we still gossip just a lot less often we are usually busy training or working on growing our business and sometimes we are just enjoying the quiet. Connie had came downstairs with chicken salad sandwiches on wheat bread and fruit salad. We had set up a dining room table in the basement for when we needed to go over stuff together instead of all of us setting at different desks. I started with my info first.

"First skip is Carl Roberts, on bail for armed robbery and attempted manslaughter. I'm surprised he made bail with his priors. They vary from possession of narcotics, car jacking, and rape, not a nice guy. He is 26, 5'10, 220 lbs, black hair, brown eyes, Latino. Officers notes said the clerk at gas station was able to use a panic button under the counter when the gun was pulled on her. Cops arrived as Carl was leaving. His mother put her house and car as collateral. Bond was set at 1.5 million. Last known address was his mothers house." Lula spoke next.

"Next on our list is Angela Smithers. Arrested for attempted murder, she caught her husband cheating on her and tried to kill him when she shot him the first time she missed. She shot again and did actually shoot him that time but it wasn't fatal. That is according to the officer notes. She is 29, 5'5, 140 lbs, white, blonde hair, green eyes. No priors and bond was set at 500,000. Last known address is in Brooklyn." Danny's was last.

"Last we have Antonio Marcs, Arrested on 3 counts of rape and assault and battery with a deadly weapon. 35, 6'2, 250 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes, Caucasian. His priors are sexual assault, assault and battery, DUI, and possession. Officers notes state that he raped three different women and the most recent one he was beating when cops got a call and showed up. Why anyone bonded him I don't know. Bond was set at 1 mil. His brother posted his house as collateral. Last known address is listed as his mother's house."

"Any ideas on how we want to play this?" Asked Connie.

"We need to check with the contacts we have and do some surveillance on each house. Which bond is up first?" I replied. We looked at our cases we each had a copy of the searches on each skip.

"Looks like Antonio expires first. We only have a week to catch him." Connie said after looking over her files.

"We need to do some surveillance on his house first. If we can get him there that would be better. If not we need to get in touch with our contacts and find out what we can." Danny responded. We all nodded.

"Let's start surveillance tonight. Danny and I can take front and Clara and Chelle you can take back. We will need to be completely geared up since he is a dangerous one." They nodded.

"What time you think we should go?" Lula questioned.

"Probably about 7 and we will be there hopefully until we can spot our skip. I would like for one of us to go to the door and see if we can verify that is where he lives." I said. I looked at the clock and it was three o'clock.

"We have fours of down time, do what you want. I'm going to call a few contacts and see if I can get any more info on the skips we have." I smiled at them and got up from the table to go back to my desk.

We had all made contacts here and pretty good ones. Once word got out who we were and we hit the pavement we started meeting people who knew a lot of other people and we got contacts. We have made numerous changes in ourselves. Lula was talking like a professional unless we got her drinking or excited and then well her old ways of speaking came out. Danny was a quiet man and reminded me of the Merry Men. Connie was very professional and I liked to believe I was too. We all joked and cut up just not all the time we were to busy, dinner was usually our make jokes and small talk time. I got up and went back to my desk, I picked up the picture on my desk of Ranger and I and looked at. I missed home I only wished I had a picture of me and all the merry men. I do love Ranger but being away has made me realize I'm not in love with Ranger. I've begun to realize I'm in love with the idea of Ranger, I do miss him though, I miss all of the merry men. I've spoken to my dad once since we have been here and I didn't tell him much but he knows enough and I gave him the number to my office line. This way if someone finds the number it belongs to a business and they shouldn't think anything of it. I sat the picture back down and picked up my little red book with all my contacts numbers in it and what area of the city they would have information. I looked at the searches and since we would be going after Antonio first decided to see if any of my contacts had any info on him. Two contacts and 40 minutes later, I had a lot of info on Antonio Marcs. What bars he frequents, his friends addresses and that we should be able to get him at home as long as we are there before 9. I looked over the other skips we had and got a lot of information on there hangouts, friends, and when we could likely catch them. All in all good information I hoped. After all my time on the phones I looked at the clock and had just enough time to make one more phone call. One I had been wanting to make but hadn't yet. I was going to call Rangeman and see who was working, I would just to talk to whoever was there on shift that I was closest to. They deserved to know I was okay. I picked up our SAT phone since it was untraceable, we have one SAT phone and then we all had cell phones and office numbers. The SAT phone was to be used any time any of us called Trenton. I dialed the number for Rangeman and Hal answered on the second ring.

"Rangeman."

"Hal, this is Stephanie. Can you tell me who is in the office right now?"

"Sure Steph, Hang on." I waited patiently for him to get back on.

"Ranger, Tank, Bobby, Lester, Cal, and Vince are here. You want to talk to Ranger?" I thought about it for a minute.

"Yeah." I waited for him to connect the call to Ranger's desk.

"Yo." Ranger answered.

"Yo Yourself."

"Babe?"

"Ranger."

"Where are you?"

"I can't tell you that but I will tell you a little bit, I'll wait if you want to get the core team together."

"Babe." I take that to mean he already had the in his office and I was right judging by the

"Bomber, Bombshell, Beautiful" That I heard.

"Hey Guys. Okay I'm not going to tell you much but I will tell you a little bit. I'm fine, no one in Trenton knows where I am but I am doing great. I know you are going to try and trace this call but it won't do you any good. It's a SAT phone. I just wanted you all to know I'm okay."

"Babe." which I knew meant that didn't give him any peace of mind.

"Alright guys I got to go I've got to get back to work. I love you all and I will call again when I can." And I disconnected. I looked back at the clock and it was time for me to get geared up. Connie, Lula, and Danny were still at their desks doing there own things. I got up and made my way up to my room, I changed into clean blue cargoes, blue t shirt with TNT on the back. I braided my hair and pulled on my black cat boots. I put my ankle holster on and put my Sig Sauer P229 in it. I strapped a knife on to my other ankle and then put on my utility belt. I had my Glock 19, stun gun, cuffs, another knife, and pepper spray in my utility belt. I know you are thinking I hate guns but things have changed since we started training with Danny and running our own business. I now have at least one gun on me at all times usually two and a knife. I'm also a lot more comfortable with my guns. I still have my .38 S&W but it stays tucked under my pillow. I walked downstairs after I finished gearing up and noticed the rest of the team was in the living room completely geared up to. We had our Kevlar vests in the back of the SUV we were planning on using for Takedowns. It was a dark Blue Lincoln Navigator, we hope that when we start growing the business we can buy more as we hire more people. We all went to the SUV and did a weapons check again to make sure we all had what we needed. Danny would drive and we would take the front while Lula and Connie took the back. We blared some Metallica on the way there and parked a few houses down. It was already getting dark so we could use that as cover. We got out and strapped on our Kevlar vests and put our throat mics and ear pieces in. We had it set up to record at the house as soon as the mics were turned on. After our gear was completed we let Connie and Lula go to get in position and then we would go to the front door. Once we got the go ahead that they were in position Danny and I made our way to the front door. I knocked and Danny stood to the side. Antonio answered the door and by the way his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped I don't think I was what he was expecting.

"Antonio Marcs?" I questioned, he still didn't say anything.

"I'm Liz, I represent your bail bond's company, you missed your court date and you are going to have to come with me. I had my hand on my gun the whole time. I no more than finished my spiel and he took off. Danny and I after him but I could hear him giving a heads up to Connie and Lula. We made out the back door in time to see Connie and Lula take him down.

"You sack of shit we are just trying to do our job" Lula screamed at him. I giggled a little bit. They got him cuffed and we started back to the SUV.

"We did good guys, lets get him to lock up and go celebrate our first take down." I said.

"Girl, that sounds like a great idea. We can go after the other two tomorrow." Connie replied.

"Good Job Ladies!" Danny responded. We got the skip in the car and shackled and took him straight back to jail. Being knew in this business in New York City, the cops were a little shocked by our team especially since there was only one man. We got our body receipt and went out to the SUV where we removed our vests, throat mics, and utility belts. Of course we all took our guns and put them in the waist band of our jeans before we hit a small bar to celebrate.

_Ranger's POV_

It had been two weeks since Steph left we had been searching non stop for her and couldn't find her or Connie and Lula anywhere. There were no hits on her social, nothing, it was like she dropped off the face of the earth. Then today we get a call from her she won't tell us where she is but she sounds good. I know she needed to get away but she could have asked me for help and just went on a vacation instead of taking off, changing her name and not telling anyone where she was going. The way she attracts crazies anything could happen to her and I wouldn't be able to help her. After hanging up the call from her I looked at the guys and we were all worried about her and just wanted her home where we could look after her and help her. We kept getting leads on where she was but they were all dead ends none of them were her. She said she was working I wonder where and what she did there. Was she still skip tracing or doing something else? She is tenacious and smart with great instincts so she could be doing anything. I hated not being in control and Steph had a way of taking away my control even when she wasn't in the area. We had a takedown scheduled so I got up from my desk and I along with my core team went to start getting geared up for our takedown in an hour. Hoping I could focus enough to get the job done without any injuries.

_Lester's POV_

_Two weeks. Two weeks since Beautiful left and we finally heard from her. It gave me a little comfort knowing she was okay. Now that she is gone I've had to admit to myself that I love her. Ranger loves her but won't let his walls down to give her a chance. I'm not sure how she feels about him but I do know they are physically attracted to each other. I hope she calls again soon so I can talk to her. I stopped my internal ramblings it was time to get ready for the takedown tonight. _


	5. Chapter 5

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. Read and Review Please!**_

**Three months later**

We have been very successful at private investigating and skip tracing, and today was a very big day. Last month we actually bought an office building and had it remodeled. Today, we were moving into it. We had used our profits and bought a building which was similar to Rangeman, but larger.

The building is located on 47th street, and has ten floors plus the basement. For security purposes, the front doors of the building will always be locked. It will be necessary to scan an ID card and palm print as well as to enter a code to gain access to the building.

The holding cells and our gun range are in the basement. The first floor houses two large conference room and the lobby with a front desk which will only be manned when we are expecting clients. The is gym, swimming pool, and sauna are located on the second floor. We're going to hire a computer and electronics expert, and the third floor will be all his. He will handle everything that has to do with security, trackers, surveillance, and computers.

The fourth and fifth floors have apartments that will be available or all employees. The sixth floor is where the offices and cubicles are located. The seventh floor is where Betty and Robert, the live in housekeeper and caretaker will live. The eighth floor is for storage. It has numerous safes for extra weapons and things of that nature. The ninth and tenth floor are our apartments. Connie and Lula each have their own apartment on the ninth floor, and Danny and I have our own apartments on the tenth floor.

We all decorated our own apartments and mine is very serene. It's done in creams, blues, and greens. My living room is done in a cream color with a cream colored couch and blue and green throw pillows. The kitchen is plain since it won't likely be cooked in. There is a bar with four stools, and I have a six person dining room table. My bedroom is painted in a calming blue, with a blue and green comforter and sheet set.

My huge closet has a mirrored door and also houses a safe. The bathroom is amazing, and has a huge shower and bathtub. I also have an office in my apartment which is where I put my desk from the house. In my actual office downstairs there is a huge mahogany desk, a brown leather sofa, and two brown leather wingback chairs.

Danny's apartment is done in black and white, it suits him perfectly. Connie's is all in off whites, browns, and burgundy, and Lula's is done in numerous bright colors. All of our apartments were the same size and set up the same way. A special key fob is needed to get up to our floors.

All of our business offices are identical and professionally decorated. We also have an underground garage and had bought three more Navigators. Another big change was making Danny partner in the business, it was a very smart decision for us. He is good at investigating and skip tracing, and helped us to make office policies for our employees. We would have struggled more had it not been for him.

We each head up a different department. Connie is the head of Private Investigations, I head up our Fugitive Apprehension Department. Danny heads training and backs us up if we need help in the other departments, and Lula is getting our Personal Security Department going.

All we have left to move was our personal belongings and then we are doing interviews this afternoon. Everyone we are interviewing was referred to us by someone we know and had already passed a rigorous background check.

I had finished putting away my things in my apartment and went to find the rest of our team since our first interview was set to start in 30 minutes. We had set up hidden cameras and mics in the lobby so we could hear anything said by the prospective employees, and had a small closed circuit TV set up in the conference room so we could watch them.

I walked out of my apartment and Danny was waiting on me.

"Hey Sweetheart. Did you get everything put away?" He asked when he saw me.

"Yeah, everything is put away. Hopefully we can hire some new employees so we can all have a day off. Hell even an hour!" I replied.

"No shit. An hour off would be heaven at this point."

"I know, but just think we're doing amazing and business is thriving. Yeah, the hours are hell but we're doing what we have to do."

"Yeah." he smiled The elevators opened on the ninth floor and Connie and Lula stepped in.

"White girl, I need some retail therapy! Maybe we can hire some people and go shopping." Lula said when she got on.

"Hell yeah!" Connie replied.

"Sounds good to me. Let's just hope at least some of these people will meet our standards."

We arrived on the first floor and Betty had set up the conference room with coffee and snacks and was now sitting at the front desk for us. Our first interview was with a Marion Brown. had just arrived as we settled into the conference room. Betty paged us and we acknowledged that Brown was here and watched on the TV to see how he acted. Dressed in black cargoes and a tight white t-shirt, he sat quietly. We watched him for about five minutes before Connie went out to escort him to the conference room. He walked in and looked a little nervous before a blank face slammed down. Connie introduced us to him.

"I'm Clara, this is Danny, Liz, and Chelle." We all shook hands with him and Connie told him to have a seat. Marion was about 6'2, shaved head, brown eyes he looked very similar to Bobby, but shorter.

"Marion, how did you hear about TNT and do you know what we do?" I asked.

"I heard about TNT through a friend, Eric Santora. He only gave me a little information, but I know you do investigations, skip tracing, and body guarding." I nodded and Danny picked up from there.

"What makes you think your qualified to work for this company?"

"I just finished 10 years in the Marines as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Tech. I'm well trained by the military expect the unexpected and handle it accordingly. I think I would excel in this field."

Lula asked the next question. "Our policies require you to carry a gun at all times, workout in the gym an hour a day and one hour in the gun range three times a week. Would that be a problem?"

"No Ma'am."

"You would also work with a partner at all times. We require you to live with your partner for at least six months, in apartments in this building. The reason being so you can get to know your partner and trust them with your life but also so you know what to expect them when working. Are you comfortable with that?"

"Yes Ma'am"

Connie was next. "We will require a physical, weapons test, physical fitness, and self defense test We will not offer you a job until you pass those. We have physicals set up with a doctor for tomorrow at 8 am. After that you will return here for your testing. If everything comes back clear and you pass your tests then we will decide whether to offer you a position."

"I should pass all of them," he replied.

"Marion, we have a few more questions about how you would deal with situations that are likely to happen while on the job. We need you to answer them honestly. I am the head of our Fugitive Apprehension Department and we deal primarily with high bond skips, most are violent. If on a takedown and a gun is pulled on you by the fugitive what would you do?" I asked.

"First I would assess the situation and try to diffuse it so innocent bystanders would not be put in danger and no one gets hurt."

"Okay that is a great answer and what if he shot your partner?"

"I would shoot without hesitation. I would then call it in to you and the police while checking on my partner and the skip and beginning first-aid."

"Sounds like you know what to do." I said with a smile.

"I'm going to ask you about a like situation while doing an investigation. Keep in mind we don't just investigate cheating spouses and boyfriends." Connie said and he nodded.

"If doing an investigation on someone who is suspected of doing drugs, you find them not only using but dealing. You get evidence through pictures what would you do?"

"I would call it in to you and the police and hopefully take the person into custody until law enforcement arrived."

"Very good answer. Now we will train on how to handle all kinds of situations. We just want to know how you would deal with them so we know how much training you will need." He nodded again.

"I handle our body guarding services, if you were guarding a young woman who is also a famous actress and she made a play for you. How would you handle that?" Lula asked him.

"I would politely let her know that I was working and I did not date clients."

"What if she threatened to sue the company for not handling all services she wanted?"

"I would politely refuse her again and make sure to let you know what was going on."

"Okay good, now what if you were guarding her and someone pulled a gun and aimed at her?"

"I would get in front of her while letting my partner go subdue him or vice versa."

"Sounds like you know how to handle all of the situations we have asked you about. I handle all the training and a lot of it will be in the field working up close with us. You also will be doing reports on every job you do and doing searches on clients and skips. Do you have a working knowledge of computers?" Danny questioned.

"Yes Sir."

"I think that concludes this interview. Here is the card with the doctor's information for your physical. Be there at 8am and then come directly here." Danny told him as he handed him the doctors card. Marion got up and shook hands with each of us as he thanked us for the interview. Connie escorted him out and came back to the room.

"We have two more here. I really liked him though, I think he would work out great." Connie informed us as she took her seat.

"I liked him, too, but lets watch how our other prospects are doing." I told her. I picked up the sheet that had a list of everyone we were interviewing and looked at who should be out there and then back at the screen. I looked back at the paper and noticed a name I wasn't very comfortable with.

"Uh guys did you notice one of them has the last name Manoso?"

"Yeah, white girl I set up his interview. Diego, recently got out of the military and just moved up here to be with his girlfriend." Lula replied.

"Chelle, last name Manoso," I said.

"Oh Shit. White girl I wasn't thinking! It'll be okay. He won't know." She said. I just nodded and looked at Danny who I could tell was trying to figure out what we were talking about. I turned back to the monitors.

One of the guys, who I was guessing was Allen Hatches, was about 5'10, brown hair, brown eyes and a small build. He was extremely nervous, he definitely wouldn't work out here. The only thing being nervous in our job can get you, is dead. We told Robert immediately we didn't think he was what we were looking for and he left.

The other man was Diego Manoso, he looked very much like Ranger but was a little bit taller and still had the military buzz cut. Diego however had a really good interview.

We interviewed people all day. Only one woman applied and that was for a position filing and answering phone calls. Since we had three departments we figured it best if someone could direct the calls. We hired her; she was an older woman mid fifties with blue eyes and graying hair. Her official position will be Office Manager, and we think she will work out perfectly.

We had 12 men going for physicals and doing tests tomorrow. Diego Manoso, Marion Brown, Robert Smith, Joey Harrens, Jacob Carney, Aaron Barnes, Ryan Mitchell, Michael Cabbens, Adam Lions, Kyle Ross, Gavin Johnson, and Ben Anderson all did extremely well in their interviews. Most of them had military backgrounds. Ben had been with the FBI, and was very computer savvy. If he passed his physical and other testing he would be dealing with electronics. He would still have a partner and go out in the field but primarily he would take care of electronics.

We were very pleased with the men that were moving onto the next stage of our hiring process. We didn't have any takedowns scheduled for tonight, and Betty was making Chicken Parmesan for dinner, and had stocked up on wine for us. So we decided after interviews we would enjoy dinner, wine, and movies. After dinner we watched Conviction and Faster. Once the movies were over we sat in the living room of my apartment for a business conversation.

"Have you guys thought of who you want to partner with?" I asked.

Connie and Lula looked each other. "We thought we would partner together, and you and Danny would partner together." Connie said.

"Works for me" I looked at Danny "You think you can handle me?" I asked with a grin.

"I think I can," he replied, laughing.

"White girl, you missin' home?" Lula asked.

"I miss some things but not much. I miss Grandma Mazur, Dad, Mary Lou, and the guys but I've been talking to dad on occasion, and the Merry Men."

Danny knew I had guy friends that I called the Merry Men and he knew I called them every so often. He still didn't know who we really were, and we were planning on telling him tonight. I looked at the girls and both nodded their heads knowing what I was asking. I looked back at Danny.

"Uh Danny we want to tell you about something you don't know about us," I said biting my lower lip.

"What is it sweetheart? Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine. It's just, you know how we don't really talk about where we come from or anything?" I asked and he nodded.

"Well, we left our homes in Trenton, NJ. My real name is Stephanie Plum and, well I needed to get away and make a new life for myself and so did they. This is really Connie and Lula and we all worked together. Connie was an office manager for the bail bond's company, and Lula and I did skip tracing. We knew if we didn't change our names, that we would never be able to start over, so, we got new names. I hope you understand."

I was now chewing on the inside of my cheek watching his reaction and honestly it didn't seem to bother him.

"Well I don't know you three as Stephanie, Connie, and Lula. I know you as Liz, Clara, and Chelle, nothing is going to change that. I understand needing to start over and I am not at all mad at you about it. I do appreciate you telling me the truth and I will not tell anyone." We all smiled and then hugged him. He really was a great guy.

Lula looked up at me with a smile. "White girl, I never thought I'd say this but I'm going down to the gym. I need to wind down before bed."

I laughed at the thought; I also never thought Lula would say that.

"I think I'll join you," Connie said.

I nodded and got up, and Danny got up too. Connie and Lula were now about the same size as me, and we were all very toned. The only difference was Connie and Lula were very well endowed, where I was not.

We all went down to the gym and spent two hours working out and then sparring. We have learned that sparring works off a lot of aggressions and we are good at it. We have each taken down Danny at one point or another. After our work out we all went to our separate apartments.

We each now have our own SAT phone and I got mine out of my desk in my apartment office. I decided to make a phone call before I showered and went to bed. The phone rang twice before being answered.

"Yo," was the greeting I got.

"Hey, Les, how are you?" I knew he would be surprised. Usually I called the office and talked to whoever was on shift, this time I called his cell.

"Beautiful?"

"Yeah, it's me Les. How are things?"

"There pretty good. It hasn't been nearly as exciting without you. We miss you."

"I miss you to. I want to tell you some things but they can't be repeated to anyone."

"Okay, you have my word."

"Well, I'm not going to tell you much but what I will tell is Connie, Lula, and I opened our own business and it is doing really well. We bought a building and got moved into it today."

"That sounds great, Beautiful. I still miss you. I would really like to see you."

"I know Les, and I want to see you too but I can't right now. I don't want anyone to know where we are. If you came here it is possible you could be found out, and then I would never have peace again. Maybe once the business is more stable, I can get away for a few days. We could meet somewhere and spend a couple days together."

"I'd like that. Let me know. So really how are you?"

"Really, I'm great. I've been working out a lot, in fact I just got back to my apartment after spending two hours in the gym. I spend a lot of time in the gym and I don't eat sweets very often either. Connie and Lula too! Would you believe they are about the same size as me? They have worked so hard and it is showing."

"I'm proud of all three of you."

"Thanks, Les. Well I have to get in the shower so I can get in bed. I have a long day tomorrow. I'll call you soon."

"Bye Beautiful." The phone was disconnected. I hopped in the shower and then got ready for bed knowing tomorrow could be a long, long day. Hopefully there will be some time off in my near future now that I was a successful business woman a few days off sounded great.


	6. Chapter 6

_**An: Standard Disclaimer. Please Review.**_

_Ranger's POV_

I had gotten a call from my brother Diego a week ago that he had an interview at a new business in New York called TNT. I had been trying to convince him to come to work for me in Trenton but his girlfriend was in NYC so he declined and now he an interview with some new company. He was excited and I was happy for him.

Today he called and said as long as he passed the physical and psych eval he would be starting to work there. He went on to tell me it was owned by three women and one man, I wasn't paying much attention as I was busy running my own company. I did my best to listen to most of what he was saying but just didn't have time. Finally I told him I didn't have time and got off the phone with him. What is it with people not understanding I have a company to run and I'm looking for Steph. I don't have time to sit on the phone with anyone unless its an emergency or a lead to find her.

_2 weeks later. _

_Steph's POV_

_All the men we sent for physicals passed their physicals and tests. They all had to go through a psych eval, I tend to attract crazies so we figured it would be best of we didn't hire any. _

_I had a chemical straightener put on my hair, so it's easier to manage. I also dyed it red and got a new haircut. I now have side bangs, it looks good on me or at least that's what people tell me. _

_Connie has started dating Eric Santora from the gym and they work really well together. He has started helping us out a lot when we need it. Lula has been dating around but has yet to find someone that holds her attention._

_I am currently not dating anyone or sleeping with anyone. My shower massager has gotten a lot of use though. Danny also isn't seeing anyone, we still work constantly even with the new employees. We got all their uniforms in last week and have been doing their fieldwork training._

_Tonight we have surveillance to prepare for a big takedown. We have four teams set up to watch four bars. When he is spotted we will watch him and see what he does when leaving, we will be watching him for a few days before we do the takedown. We all have throat mics and earpieces in so we can communicate._

_Danny and I are taking the Longneck Bar, Diego and Marion are at Holes, Ryan and Adam are at Fatso's, and Kyle and Gavin are at The Electric Saddle. The skip we are after is very dangerous._

_His name is Andrew Sanders, 6'0, 230 lbs, green eyes, shaved head, and multiple tattoos. His rap sheet is as long as my legs but most of his charges didn't stick. The witnesses tend to disappear, this time the witnesses were put under lock and key. His charges range from assault to sexual assault, armed robbery, rape, and murder. He is on bail for 3 counts of rape and 2 counts of murder, I have yet to figure out why he was bonded but we will make a lot of money off of him when we drop him off at the cop shop. His bond was set at 4 mil, I think the judge didn't think he could come up with that amount of money but somehow he did and now we get to drag his ass back into the system. _

_We are easy bosses for the most part, we don't deal with disrespect and not following our orders. At first it was interesting the guys didn't realize that we would spar with them and once they sparred with each of us they realized really fast like that we could take them down and they haven't forgotten yet. Since they are ex military they follow orders well and we haven't had any real problems with them. I do let them take snacks and drinks when on surveillance and each SUV is wired for sight and sound so I can make sure they are doing their jobs. _

_Our offices are the same way, there are cameras with sound everywhere so we know what is going on. We run a tight ship but we let them relax at the same time. It was hard to find that balance but we did. We rotate weekends off and there are always people on call in case we get a lead on a skip or an investigation. The hours are a major plus if we need to leave we can as long as someone is available if something comes up. The paperwork is the worst and we have to have everything documented, it helps prevent being sued if we have it. _

_The Longneck only had a front door and a side door, where we were sitting we could easily see both doors and everyone who entered and exited. All of our men that are stationed were told to park where the had a good visual of anyone entering and exiting they would also be doing frequent check ins about every hour unless they spot him and then they are to make immediate contact. _

_I still hate surveillance because it is incredibly boring and my ass tends to go numb but it is often necessary. We have been sitting here for about an hour and a half and have already done one check in. Connie and Lula are meeting with informants on an investigation we have going about a missing adult, they have been working on the case for a week now and still no good leads. _

_We enjoy are work and every day is different and challenging. I look out the window and I don't see Andrew but I do see another one of our skips walk out the bar. I look over at Danny to see if he recognized him and he's still staring so he must not have. _

"_Danny, Jeremiah Holmes just walked out of the bar and we need to get him his bond expires Tuesday." I said as I followed Jeremiah with my eyes. _

"_Let's get him then." He replied._

_We both hopped out still keeping eyes on our skip and strap on our Kevlar's. The guys have all heard what is going on through their mics and ear pieces and know to keep watching. Jeremiah had just got to his car as we approached him, he was on bail for assault and battery and sexual assault. We both got behind him as he went to unlock his car._

"_Bond Enforcement. You missed your court date and now you have to come with us" I said to him._

_He started to turn around and we both saw him reach in the front of his pants but he didn't get very far. Danny grabbed his left arm and twisted it behind him and I grabbed his right. We got him cuffed and Danny patted him down and sure enough there was a gun, tucked in his jeans. We walked him to our SUV and got him in and secured before we got in. Of Course, he was going to be a mouthy skip and of course he thinks its all my fault, this is starting to become our normal. Danny and I pick them up and somehow its always my fault they are going to jail. _

"_You Bitch, I'll get you." I turned around and looked at him._

"_Would you just shut up, I didn't do a damn thing to you other than arrest your sorry ass and I did that because its what I'm paid to do. Sit back, shut up, and enjoy the ride since your next will probably be in a bus to the pen." I said _

"_You fucking Cunt" That's all he got out before I stunned him. I'm sure there were more words he would have like to spewed but I wasn't giving him a chance to continue his verbal tirade._

_We got to the cop shop, dropped him off without incident and as we were getting back in the SUV the guys started doing their check ins. Our skip Andrew was spotted at The Electric Saddle. He was seen walking in the front door. _

_The rest of our men left the bar they were watching to go home while Kyle and Gavin stayed at The Electric Saddle. Danny and I were heading over, we would change clothes and go inside to watch our skip while Kyle and Gavin continued to watch the doors. _

_We keep 2 changes of clothes in our SUV incase we need them. I keep a nice outfit that makes me fit in almost anywhere and then an extra uniform. Danny keeps jeans, a t shirt, and a uniform in his bag. _

_We pulled up to the bar and parked in an area where we wouldn't be visible and we both changed in the car. I put on black skinny jeans, a red skin tight v neck shirt, and black knee high boots going over the jeans. It was my current vehicle outfit. Since I'm wearing it as soon as we get back to our building I'll pick out another outfit to put in the car. Danny put on boot cut jeans, a green and white button up shirt, and a pair of doc martens. I must say he looked hott. _

_We walked into the bar and spotted out skip sitting at a table talking with a young blonde. I'm hoping maybe we can get an opening and take him down tonight. I know that's not following our plan but with his rap sheet I'm sure as hell going to do my best to keep him from leaving with that girl._

_We set down at a table with a clear view of our skip and both ordered bottles of water and continued to watch. He kept giving her drinks and we knew exactly what he was doing, he was going to get her drunk and then take advantage of her. After about an hour of him shoving drinks down her, he grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her to the back door. I spoke into my mic. _

"_Back door NOW!" I yelled while Danny and I followed behind them._

_I pulled my gun out from my waist as Danny pulled his out. We were still behind our skip and the girl, we watched him practically dragging her as she stumbled down the hallway leading to the backdoor. They finally made it to the backdoor and he pushed her out first, never noticing that he was being followed. _

_As soon as he walked out the door, Kyle and Gavin were on him. We weren't expecting what happened next, he pulled a knife and stabbed Gavin, at that point Danny and I jumped in. He sliced my arm but we got him cuffed after about a thirty minute scuffle. Kyle started applying pressure to Gavin's knife wound which was in the leg. I called an ambulance and Danny stood by our skip as we waited for the ambulance and police to arrive._

_I knew I was going to need stitches which I could have one of my guys do. We finally heard sirens approaching, I knew one of the police officers that arrived but since we are in such a big city, I don't know all the officers but I do know quite a few. _

_This one is Mark Sanchez, He's only about 5'10 and has a nice body not really buff but muscular, he has brown eyes and brown hair. He walked over to me._

"_Hey Liz, Do you want to go ahead and give your statement?" He asked._

_I saw Ryan and Diego pull up. They walked straight to me and I smiled knowing Ryan was coming to stitch me up. I looked back at Mark._

"_Sure" And I told him everything that happened while Ryan did his thing. I finished, signed my statement and Danny and I headed to the hospital to check on Gavin. _

_Danny had already called Connie and Lula and they were going to meet Gavin at the hospital. We walked in and saw Connie, Lula, and Kyle sitting in the waiting room. I walked over to them._

"_Heard anything?" I asked._

"_Yeah, he's going to be fine. They are getting him stitched up right now. Said he can go home tonight but has to be on light duty for at least two weeks. The knife when right through some major muscle and it's going to take a couple weeks to heal." Connie replied._

_I nodded and set down. After about 30 minutes they brought Gavin out in a wheel chair with the instructions about his release. We left and headed back to the office._

_I had gotten really close to the guys that work for us. Which isn't surprising since they are great guys. I did notice that I hit off especially with Diego, Marion, and Ryan, my three amigos as I tend to call them. We hung out anytime we had a free chance. _

_Danny and Lula had been getting close behind closed doors, Connie and I were the only ones that suspected anything and neither one had set a word to us. Danny and I were close as friends but that's it, I thought at one point, maybe, but no it was completely platonic. Don't get me wrong he is hott but we don't mesh as anything more than friends. _

_Then there is my three amigos when Diego's girlfriend worked nights he would stay and hang out with us and watch movies. It was nice to have that easy friendship with no expectations. They also knew when it's business time they have to listen and do as they are told._

_It was 3 am by the time I got in my apartment and I really wanted to call Lester. I had been so busy the last two weeks that I had barely gotten a chance to breathe. I was leaving for Florida today and wanted Lester to meet me there. _

_I knew I needed to call him for him to come. My plane left at 1 pm so if I went to sleep now I could get plenty of sleep before my plane ride. Betty my wonderful housekeeper packed my bags for me. I decided I would wait and call Lester before I left my apartment when I woke up. I took my work clothes off and put all my weapons away and crawled into bed after setting my alarm for 9 am so I could get up and be ready on time. _


	7. Chapter 7

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. Please Review. **_

I woke up to the alarm clock blaring at 9 am and jumped out of bed and went straight to the shower. I rushed through getting ready because Danny would be covering for me while I was gone and I wanted to go over all outstanding FTA's with him. I put my hair in a pony tail and put on khaki capris, a blue tank top, and blue flip flops. I went down to our offices and Danny was sitting at his desk writing reports on physicals when I walked on.

"Hey Honey. You ready to go?" He asked when he saw me.

"Yeah just about. I wanted to go over our outstanding FTA's before I left. Also, when I return I have a meeting scheduled with the FBI, ATF, and DEA, they want us to start looking for some of the fugitives on their wanted lists. They have two other companies that do it too, they will delegate who goes after who. I would like for all of us to be there for the meeting as it will effect the company as a whole and use a lot of resources. If you could please fill Clara and Chelle in I would appreciate it. I haven't had time, I'm sorry for putting all of this on you."

He nodded and stood up. "It's okay, part of the job. Lets go to your office so you can go over the FTA's with me. You need to be leaving for your vacation soon, I'm ready for mine but I'm not going anywhere. I'm just going to hole myself up in my apartment for my four days."

I laughed at him, he's not one for going out. We walked into my office and I sat down behind my desk as I grabbed the files for our outstanding FTA's and handed them to him. There were 12 we needed with in two weeks.

"Here's the skips, most should be fairly easy apprehensions. We have been doing surveillance on most of them and the notes are in the files. There are three in there that will need to be apprehended with 2-3 teams. They should have a note in the file so you know which ones. Also, make sure the guys do their paperwork in a timely manner on these skips they sometimes to tend to put it off. My phone will be off so I will not be receiving any phone calls, if it is an emergency, in my apartment on the fridge is where I'll be staying and a phone number."

He nodded and got up to walk out, "What time do we need to head for the airport Honey?" He questioned.

"Give me thirty minutes and I'll be ready." I said as he walked out the door. My luggage was already put in an SUV and waiting for me. All I had to do was climb in, I had reserved an SUV in Orlando. I couldn't keep my gun on me but it was packed in my suitcase along with my federal license to carry. I got up and shut the door, as soon as I was seated back at my desk I pulled out the SAT phone and called Lester. After two rings he answered.

"Santos,"

"Lester." I said.

"Hey Beautiful. Haven't talked to you in about a week. Been busy?" He asked.

"Yeah, swamped. But I'm leaving for a 4 day vacation in about 25 minutes and wanted to see if maybe you could meet me there." I replied sheepishly, not really knowing if he would want to.

"Where you going and I'll have to have it approved but since Ranger is out of town it shouldn't be a problem."

"I'm going to be in Orlando, Florida I'll be staying at Loews Portofino Bay. I booked a two room suite and gave them your name when I booked so you can go to the front desk and get a key. Where's Ranger?"

"He said he got a lead on you in D.C, so him and Cal went to check it out."

"D.C.? Well, I'm not in D.C and haven't been. I don't know where he is getting his leads from but they are a little off." I said laughing. He laughed too.

"Well, since I don't know where you are I figured what the hell. We miss you though."

"I know Les, but see if you can come to Orlando, I won't have any phones on me except this one and it will be off. I'm only taking it for emergencies."

"I'll see what I can do Beautiful."

"I gotta go Les its time for me to head to the airport." And I hung up.

I knew they were probably going to check airlines so we have it to where I use my current alias to fly from New York to South Carolina and then in South Carolina I will use a different alias to fly to Florida. Keep them on their toes and then my hotel is under my second alias. I'm hoping this keeps them from finding my original alias.

I rode the elevator down to the garage and Danny was already waiting on me. I hopped in the SUV and we took off for the airport. I was flying First Class it was nice being able to afford the finer things in life, having the Family's resources helped to. They set second alias's for all of us, with bank accounts and I was able to withdraw money out of my Liz account and put it into my second alias's account which is Sarah Madelyn Pauls. Same initials as my real name so it is convenient and fairly easy to remember.

I made it through Security just fine and got comfortable in my seat when i boarded the plane. I took an anxiety pill that Connie gave me before going through security so I slept the flight to South Carolina. I did the plane change and went back to sleep on the flight to Florida. I awoke to the flight attendant announcing we had reached our destination. Sunny Florida.

I got off the plane and went to the baggage claim, I grabbed my two suitcases before I went to the rental car desk. I gave them my name and drivers license and was shown to a new silver Ford Escape. I loaded my luggage, entered the address of the hotel into the GPS, and followed the directions to a beautiful hotel.

I pulled up to the hotel and it was absolutely amazing, I gave the valet my keys and he pulled my SUV to the side of the front entrance to park until I found out where my suite was located. I walked in and the inside was beautiful it was done in a cream color with tile flooring and a chandelier in the middle of the lobby, a sitting area was to my right and the elevators were to my left.

Straight ahead was the front desk. The gave me a key to my room which was on the second floor, the concierge took my luggage and led me to my room which meant my car was fine exactly where it was. He opened the door to my room and it was gorgeous the living room was done in Creams and browns, there was a brown sofa and two oversized cream colored chairs with a wooden coffee table and a 42" flat screen TV mounted on the wall.

There was a small kitchen area with a coffee pot, refrigerator, sink, and microwave, there was a bar with four stools and a dining room table that seated six. I looked around and noticed the two doors which had to lead to the bedrooms, the first room was done in cream and green with a King four poster bed and an armoire, it was gorgeous. I walked in and went to the door that had to lead to the bathroom which was amazing. There was a huge shower, a whirlpool tub and huge vanity.

I walked out and went into the second room which was done in cream and brown like the living room. It had the same furniture as the first room just different colors, I walked into the bathroom and once again it was exactly the same.

I walked back into the other room and had the concierge place my luggage in it. I then walked into the living room and used the phone to dial room service. I ordered a medium well steak, baked potato, ceasar salad and wine for dinner.

My plan for the evening was to relax in the hotel tomorrow I would explore Orlando. I turned on the TV and watched a lifetime movie, I didn't catch the name of it but it was about a kidnapped baby.

There was a knock at my door and I went and opened it to find room service there. The young woman walked in and sat up my dinner at the bar with the wine and wine glass. After she walked out, I couldn't help but think this was the life. Granted, it wasn't much different from when I was at home since we had Betty. I ate at the bar and the meal was delicious I think I moaned the whole way through it. No dessert, at least not tonight. I finished my dinner and rinsed my dishes leaving them in the sink.

I finished watching the lifetime movie and then went back in my bedroom and put all my things away. After I finished getting all my things put away I took my gun and went back to the living room sitting it on the coffee table. I flipped through the channels until I saw Katt Williams was on comedy central, I left it on comedy central and spent the next hour laughing at him.

Finally getting restless, I decided to call it a night. I still didn't know if Lester was coming or not, part of me wanted to call him and find out and then other part of me says leave it be. If he does come he may ask questions I didn't want to answer right now. I don't want him to know where I am living now nor my original alias that I go by regularly. I'm not ready for that, not yet, but I do want to see him.

I miss him, I miss all the merry men and Ranger, but I just can't go back yet and I don't want them invading my home right now. I want to get more settled there and build up the company some more first. I know when they do find out I will not move back to Trenton I will probably go back to my birth name. I miss that name and much to my disliking I miss being called Bombshell and Bomber.

Finishing my thoughts I grabbed my gun and went to the bedroom and changed out of my clothes and pulled on one of Ranger's t-shirts. I needed to feel some version of home and it was all I had. I sat my gun on the night stand and laid down in the huge bed. The sheets were amazing and the bed was comfortable.

Thinking of how my life had changed and how much better it was without dealing with the Burg and being bet on. It was nice to just work without dealing with all the drama and gossip. Those were my last thoughts as I drifted off to dreamland.

I woke at 4 am to the sound of the front door opening, grabbing my gun off the nightstand I went to go check out who was in my hotel room. I walked into the living area and Lester was staring at me wide eyed. After staring at me for a minute with my gun still trained on his heart he spoke.

"Beautiful, you going to put your gun down?"

I looked and realized it was still trained on him, I hadn't noticed pure habit. I flipped the safety back on and leaned down and put the gun on the floor and ran to Les jumping in his arms. Seeing him made me realize how much I missed everyone. I held onto him like a lifeline I stuck my head in his neck and inhaled his scent. He kissed the side of my head as I released him, Once my feet were back on solid ground I gave him my biggest smile.

"I missed you so much Les!" I said, he smiled his panty melting smile.

"I missed you too Beautiful" He responded.

I showed him around our suite and then to his room but when we stopped in there I looked up at Les and really I wanted him to come to bed with me for nothing more than a good cuddle with him. We had gotten so close and before I moved he was coming to check on me, bringing dinner, watching movies, and holding me while I cried.

I loved Les but I'm not sure in what way. I loved Joe and Ranger too but differently and the same. I loved Joe but only as a friend. Ranger was my best friend and I love him too, for a while I thought I was in love with him but being away made me realize I was in love with the idea of him. Plus I know he doesn't do relationships even with me but he also has this fierce need to protect me.

I think in a different lifetime we would be good together but not this lifetime, this lifetime was friendship that could never be taken away. I knew he wouldn't stop looking for me, his protectiveness wouldn't let him. Lester was different though, he cared about me for me, he was open with his life and had a great sense of humor, he also understood me. I was brought back to earth by Lester snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"Earth to Beautiful" He said. I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts.

"Huh" I know I'm a conversational wonder.

"Where were you just at in that beautiful little head of yours or do I even want to know?" He asked.

"You probably don't want to know" I replied with a shy smile embarrassed I went that far away in my head.

"Les, I know this is going to sound a little odd but will you please sleep in my bed with me tonight?"

He looked searchingly in my eyes and apparently found what he was looking for and nodded. I grabbed his hand and led him into my room. I went in the bathroom and changed into boxers and a tank I picked up at Macy's. I walked back into my bedroom and Lester walked into the bathroom. I went back into the living room and grabbed my gun carrying it back into the bedroom and putting it on the nightstand, I crawled back into bed. A few minutes later Lester crawled into bed and pulled my back up against his front and I fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up to my alarm blaring at 6 am and groaned before slowly rolling out from under Lester's arm. I went in the bathroom and washed my face, brushed my teeth, and put my hair into a messy ponytail. I walked back into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of Soffe athletic shorts and a sports bra, put on my socks and my white Nike shox, and then grabbed my Ipod to head down to the gym. I was just about to walk out the bedroom door when I heard Lester speak.

"Morning Beautiful, where you headed so early?" He asked sleepily.

"Gym." I replied walking out the door.

"Give me a minute and I'll go with you." he said.

I was out of the bedroom but heard him so I went in the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of water and two Gatorades. A few minutes later he walked out of the bedroom wearing only basketball shorts low on his hips and a tank top. He looked gorgeous, his eyes were gleaming like he knew what I was thinking which he probably did.

I grabbed his hand and started pulling him to the door. We went down to the gym and Lester was surprised by my workout, he kept watching me and every exercise I had done, especially when I used the pull up bar. We spent almost two hours in the gym before heading back up to our room. We both took showers and then ordered room service where I shocked him again by ordering an egg white vegetable omelet, toasted rye bread, and black coffee.

I smiled at him when he told me to order him the same thing. After breakfast we decided to drive an hour to Cocoa beach, tomorrow we would be going to Discovery Cove and maybe Sea World. The next two days we planned on shopping and just hanging out.

Breakfast was good and I moaned the whole way through it before dressing in my turquoise bikini, with khaki shorts, pink tank top, and white flip flops. I put my hair into a ponytail and deemed myself ready to go.

Lester was wearing black and white swim trunks and a black tank top. We loaded into my rental car and Les drove the whole way to the beach in his zone. We got to the beach and laid out our towels and sat down.

I pulled my tank and shorts off so I could enjoy the sun and Les rubbed tanning oil all over me. He sat behind me and pulled me towards him. I relaxed with my back to his chest enjoying being with a friend. I smiled at the comfort that brought me.

I looked up at Les, "How did you manage to get away on such short notice?" I asked, truly curious.

"I told Tank that a friend needed me and it was an emergency. He called in a contract worker to cover for me and here I am. I think he suspects the friend is you but I'm not sure and he has no proof. Plus, he doesn't have enough staff to have me followed."

We sat quietly for a few more minutes enjoying the sun and our friendship. I think we were both comforted by just being able to be together.

"So beautiful when are you going to tell me about your new life." I sat quietly for a minute thinking of what I was comfortable telling and what I wasn't.

"Ask what you want and I will answer the ones I'm comfortable with."

"How about what do you do now work wise." I smiled as I thought about my job and how good I am at it now.

"I do a lot, I'm still a bounty hunter but also a private investigator and bodyguard."

"Do you like it?" He questioned.

"

I love it. I got to start over somewhere new where no one knew who I was and accepted me for my talents. I trained my ass off and am now really good at what I do." I smiled while answering

"Do you miss home?"

"I miss certain things, like you and the guys and my family but I don't miss the Burg grapevine or being bet on."

"Do you plan on ever coming back for good?"

"I'm not sure, I doubt it though. I like where I live I'm happy there and accepted by all who have met me."

"Where are you living?"

"Lester you know I'm not ready to give that information away just yet."

"Sorry, I just miss you and if I knew where you were I could probably visit so we could see each other more."

"I know and I miss you too but this is the way it needs to be for a little while longer until the company is more established. I'm not ready for my home to be invaded by my family and all of the guys." I felt him nod at that before he asked his next question.

"What about Connie and Lula how are they?"

"Their great, Connie is dating a man that owns a gym who helps out when we need it. Lula is dating around but has yet to find anyone that holds her attention." He nodded.

"And you?"

"I'm not dating anyone." He squeezed his arms around me and we sat quietly after that. Only getting up to splash in the water for a little while.


	8. Chapter 8

_**An: Standard Disclaimer. Please Review.**_

After a few hours at the beach we walked to a little beach restaurant and ordered sandwiches, chips, and drinks. We sat down to enjoy our food and talk.

"Anything interesting going on in Trenton?" I asked curious as to what everyone was doing.

"Not really, Morelli is dating a kindergarten teacher." I smiled at that.

"I'm happy for him. Anything else?"

"Plum Bail Bonds is officially closed. Harry decided it wasn't worth keeping open especially since all of the employees but Rangeman left."

"Are you all not doing FTA's anymore?"

"Yeah we are. Ranger bought the Bond's office from Harry and hired a two people, surprisingly Valerie and Mary Lou. They write the bonds and keep track of all the paperwork and we do all the skip tracing even small bonds." Hmmm. That was interesting.

"Grandma been causing trouble?"

"She has been arrested twice" He said laughing.

"For what?"

"The first was public indecency, she thought it would be fun to run around the nursing home naked to try and find a man. The second was carrying concealed a couple weeks later." He was barely able to speak because he was laughing so hard.

"Who picked her up when she went FTA?" I know she went FTA and I know whoever picked her up had their hands full.

"Ranger and Tank the first time because Ranger wanted to see if she had any information on where you were. The second time was Hal and Vince. Hal is scarred for life. She flashed him and Vince." I couldn't hold it any longer I bust out laughing, holding my stomach trying to breath laughing.

"She.. Flashed.. Them..?" I managed to squeak out between laughs.

"Yeah she flashed them. Ranger had to give them combat pay. He debated counseling but decided they could get over it on their own."

I couldn't stop laughing, imagining their faces when grandma lifted her shirt was just way to much.

"I love my grandma. Never a dull moment when she's around." He shook his head at that.

"Beautiful, I really do miss you and wish you'd tell me where you live. I want to know you are okay and be able to check on you."

"How about this. I'm not going to tell you where I live but I will give you my personal cell phone number but please don't give it out to anyone and the area code will tell you about where I'm living. Don't come trying to figure it out. Please, if you can't agree to that I will not give you the number." He sat for a minute and I know he was thinking about it.

When finally he spoke again. "Okay I give in. I won't give it away and I won't come look for you."

I smiled at him, "I'll give it to you before we leave Orlando."

He nodded and we continued to eat in blissful silence listening to the beach noises. Being in New York I don't get that anymore, not as close to the shore as I was in Jersey and I don't have time to just drive to the shore. I'm lucky I was able to get away for this four day vacation, but all of us owners are getting one.

After lunch we walked back down to the beach to relax some more. He rubbed more lotion on me to keep me from burning and then turned me around to face him.

"I like the hair Beautiful, I hadn't said anything yet because I was trying to get used to you with straight red hair." I smiled at him.

"Thanks, it goes with my new identity." He nodded and pulled me to him so that my head was resting on his shoulder.

"Beautiful I have missed you so much, you have no idea. It's going to be hard going our separate ways when we leave Orlando."

I looked up at him and gave him my most mischievous smile. "You could always quit Rangeman and come to work for me."

He looked at me skeptically. "I have a contract at Rangeman that I can't break but there is only 6 months left on it and then I might take you up on that offer if it puts me closer to you."

"Lester, Be serious. Please. If you wanted to come to work for me I would love for you to but only if that's what you truly wanted."

He nodded and snuggled me back into him.

After a few minutes I looked up at him, "How about we head back to the Hotel?" I asked.

"If that's what you want Beautiful." I nodded before standing up.

I started picking up our stuff as he got up and folded up our blanket. We walked to the car together and loaded all of our stuff in the back of it. He opened the door for me to get in and then buckled me in before walking around to the drivers side and getting in.

The drive back to the hotel was done in a comfortable silence. I thought of how much I missed him and all my other friends and then I thought of how great I was doing in New York. Life was working well for me, I was co owner to a growing business and had new friends that I loved and cherished.

We pulled back into the hotel lot and Lester came around and opened my door before opening the back of the SUV for us to get our beach bags out of it. We carried them to our room and we both put everything away. It was comfortable to be able to share the small task with someone.

After everything was settled and put away, I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and settled next to Lester on the couch. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer to him before turning on the TV. He put the TV on USA network which was playing a marathon of action movies.

I snuggled into Lester to watch _The Patriot_. Being so close to Lester started sending my hormones into overdrive. I hadn't had a social orgasm in a long time and just thinking of having one wasn't helping. Suddenly, I heard the in room phone ringing I got up to answer in case it was one of my team members and good thing to.

"Hello." I answered watching Lester as he got up to walk over to where I was standing.

"Liz?" Danny asked

"Yeah, it's me what's up and it better be serious if you are calling me while I'm on vacation." He didn't laugh which meant whatever was going on was serious.

"We have a problem."

"What kind of problem and how big of a problem is it?" I asked starting to get pissed that my vacation was being ruined.

"There was a package delivered to the office today and it wasn't a pleasant package."

"Well, What the hell was it?" I was now pissed why can't people just spit put the bad news. Lester wrapped his arms around me as I listened to Danny.

"It seems that you have someone that wants you dead. There were pictures of you with a target on your heart and whoever is doing this is damn good. There was also a letter." Great a letter that's never good.

"What did it say"

" I'm going to read the letter exactly as it is."

"Okay" I was starting to get really nervous.

"Elizabeth, You are doing a man's job and I will be coming for you. I could take you out easily from a distance but I want to show you what a woman's job is first. Yours Truly."

"That's it?" Huh? Could be worse.

"Yeah, that's it."

"Okay, well I'm not there so no worries at the moment. I want you to go through all of our recent captures and find out who is out of jail. Focus on ones I was involved in, email me the list and I will go through it and call you with who we need to start surveillance on. Call Eric and see if he is willing to help out right now because we may need it until we found out who is pissed at me."

"Got it, I'm about to call a meeting for all employees so they are aware of the situation."

"Thanks, Danny get that list emailed to me as soon as possible. I'll check my email in about two hours."

"Okay. Honey, I really am sorry about all this."

"I know, don't worry about it. I'll talk to you later." I disconnected the phone. So much for my relaxing vacation.

I turned in Lester's arms and wrapped my arms around his waist just enjoying being held. I hadn't had any problems since I moved and now someone is pissed. I should have known it wouldn't last long.

Lester wrapped his arms tighter around me before he started to ask questions which I knew was coming.

"Beautiful, you want to tell me what's going on?"

"Nothing terribly important." Avoid questions at all costs on the situation. That was my goal.

"Stephanie, Don't lie to me. I saw your reaction. Please tell me what's going on." Damn that please.

"Apparently there is someone who isn't very happy with me at home. They got a package at the office today."

"What kind of package?" He questioned as he walked me to the couch still holding onto me.

"The kind you don't want to get." I can do this, answer questions evasively.

"Don't Steph! Don't be vague me. What is going on?" Damn him knowing what I was doing.

"A package was delivered to the office this morning with a picture of me and a target on my heart. There was also a letter saying I was going to be shown what a woman's job is. That's all, I'll catch him and make him think twice about threatening me. It's fine! Let's drop it, I want to enjoy my vacation.

"Okay, but is there a chance you were followed here?"

"Nope, I took special care of making sure I couldn't be followed or traced." Lester just nodded as he pulled me down on the couch with him.

"We have two hours before you have to check email. Do you want to finish the movie or do something else?"

"I'd like to just watch the movie for right now."

He pulled me back to him and wrapped his arm back around me until the movie was over. When it finished I got up, stretched, and went to fish out my laptop out of my luggage. I got it out and plugged up to check my email. I knew there would probably be a long list of people who we had captured and taken back to the cop shop.

I booted up my computer and pulled up my email, thankfully Danny had already emailed me the list. I sat on the bed with my laptop laying on my legs to go through the names. To my surprise there was only about 15 names, so most of the ones we put back in jail had stayed there.

I went through the names and had marked three as most likely and seven as possibilities, the rest were of no concern to me. They were fairly basic captures who didn't really care whether they went back to jail or not. I know that's odd since they skipped their court date but a lot of them are repeat offenders and just don't care if they go back to jail or not.

I sent an email to Danny with my guesses on who they could be and what I think the best plan of action will be. I wanted taps put on their phones and since we don't have the manpower to keep people on them, I told him to have trackers put on their vehicles. That should give us some idea. Ben will take care of all of that for us, he is absolutely amazing at computers and electronics.

I looked up and noticed Lester was standing there watching me work. I smiled up at him as I shut off the laptop and moved it off of my lap.

"All done?" He asked

"Yep, I have a few that I think are most likely to be the ones to threaten me."

Lester walked over and sat on the bed beside me, pulling me to him again. He was really turning into quite the touchy person. Maybe, I should talk to him about it. Maybe I should see if he felt the same way about me that I feel about him, if I could define that feeling.

I love Les, I missed him the most of all my friends back home. He was sweet, easy to talk to, protective without being over bearing and controlling, and had a great sense of humor. When I picture myself with someone in a committed relationship they have all the qualities Lester has. I really needed to talk to him about this but how, I don't do adult conversations very often.

I need to talk to my three amigos, they can help me out. They'll tell me what I need to hear and help me with my nerves. Like I said they were great friends, Connie and Lula would try to help but most of their ideas are little out in left field which isn't what I need right now. Danny is dealing with my stalker problem, so naturally that leaves the three amigos.

I looked up at Les and he was sitting with me against him and his eyes closed. I smiled at how relaxed he was with me.

"Lester, I need to go make a phone call." He nodded and loosened his arms from around me slightly.

I got up and walked into the living room, sitting where I could watch if he tried to eavesdrop. I turned on my phone and called Diego's cell phone. He was always with Ryan and usually Marion was around somewhere close. After two rings he picked up.

"Is this my absolute favorite boss who is also the hottest boss around?" I laughed.

"That assumption would be correct." I replied still laughing at him.

"What's up boss?" I smiled, he always called me boss even when we were hanging out.

"I need help."

"What kind of help? You aren't in trouble on your vacation are you?""No, I'm not in trouble. I leave all the trouble for you three goons to get into." He chuckled.

"I'm hoping this doesn't have to do with your stalker."

"Nope, personal."

"Ah, is this about the mystery man you invited to meet you there?"

"Got it in one."

"Hang on. Ryan is driving me nuts wanting it on speaker so he can hear what is going on." I smiled. These guys were crazy and I couldn't ever just talk to one of them it was at least two of them but usually all three.

"Okay Boss. What's the deal?"

"I want to tell him how I feel but I don't do adult conversations unless I'm at work and then it's still iffy. What do I do."

"Screw him senseless!" This coming from Ryan my employee horn dog.

"Shut the hell up Ryan. Look Boss, just talk to him, if he's as great as you say it will come easily. Plus he'd be a dumbass not to want you. If it wasn't for Adrianna I'd try to get in your pants." I laughed, they truly were a mess.

"I'll be sure to tell Adrianna that." I heard Ryan laughing at that remark.

"Now Boss, I'm trying to help you. You tell her and I'll have to do something not so nice to you."

"Are you threatening your boss Diego?"

"Not at all" he laughed, "Just simply making a statement." I laughed again.

"Thanks you two. I'll talk to you when I get back." I disconnected still laughing at the goofs that I employ.

I walked back into the bedroom and Les was smiling.

"Good Conversation? I kept hearing you laugh."

"Yeah, I was talking to two of the guys that work for me but also happen to be great friends." He smiled.

"You make friends with everyone Beautiful. I'm not surprised." I smiled as I crawled back into the bed.

"Lester, can I talk to you about something serious?"

"Of course you can Beautiful. You should know that." I nodded and bit my lower lip trying to come up with the right words. I looked Lester in the eyes before beginning.

"I care about you a lot. Maybe as more than friends, I just don't know how to talk about it." I said biting my lip again.

Lester cupped my cheek with his hand, "Then don't talk about it." I started to pull away but he pulled me to him and kissed me.

The kiss felt like he was pouring every emotion possible into it. I was getting extremely turned on by the kiss. The man could kiss, I had never been kissed like that. We slowly pulled away from each other and he pulled me to where I was sitting on his lap.

"Beautiful, I don't express emotions well. I'd rather make jokes but I do care about you and if you want to I would like to try a relationship with you. It will be hard though because I don't know where you live." I nodded.

"How about this Lester, I'll give you my personal cell phone number and when I get back home I'll talk to Connie and Lula and see if they are comfortable with me telling you where we are."

"Okay, we can do it that way." Then he kissed me again.

The next two days we decided to spend most of our time in our room exploring our new relationship. We did go shopping though, I couldn't not shop. There hadn't been any news on my stalker so every fugitive on our list had trackers put on their vehicles. I was nervous about going home and not being with Les, I enjoyed my time with him so much.

We packed all of our things up and started loading them in the rental car. We both had flights leaving out within 30 minutes of each other. We drove in silence to the airport holding hands neither of us really wanting to leave the other.

We pulled up to the airport and checked in. Our flights were leaving from opposite sides of the airport so we kissed and hugged before going our separate ways.

"Beautiful, I really don't want to leave you." I nodded with tears streaming down my face.

"I know. I'll call you as soon as I'm home and you have my cell phone number if you need to get a hold of me. I have meetings all day tomorrow and after those I'll talk to Connie and Lula. I promise, I want to see you again as soon as possible." He reached up and wiped away my tears before giving me one last kiss and walking to his terminal.

I can only hope Connie and Lula are okay with me telling Lester where we live. I don't want to be away from him any longer than necessary.

_**The reunion between the ladies and Rangeman is coming soon. There are 3 scenarios of how it could go and both would be full of drama. Let me know which one you prefer. **_

_**1. Rangeman goes to NYC to capture and FTA but TNT just happens to be going after the same FTA and they run into each other during the takedown.**_

_**2. Rangeman is in NYC for a takedown at a Nightclub and see the girls and some of their employees dancing the night away.**_

_**3. Rangeman is in NYC for a takedown but has free time before hand and Ranger calls Diego and Bobby calls Marion (You guessed it their siblings.) to meet for dinner but Steph is already out with her three amigos. **_

_**Which one would you like to read. Whichever one gets the most votes wins.**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. Please Review it lets me know you are interested in the story.**_

_Steph's POV_

I slept on the plane ride back to New York. I wished for more time with Lester and more time without a stalker but now it was time to face real life head on. I got off the plane and went to baggage claims to get my luggage before seeing who came to get me. I grabbed my luggage and walked outside.

Danny and Lula were waiting on me. Huh! Maybe they were going to go public, I was happy for them they worked well together and complimented each other. Lula with her loud and obnoxious ways and Danny with his quiet and controlled demeanor. It worked perfectly, he doesn't mind how Lula is and Lula doesn't mind how quiet Danny is.

I walked over to Danny and Lula standing beside one of our work vehicles and received hugs from both of them. Danny took my luggage and stowed it in the back of the SUV before walking around and getting in the drivers seat.

"Alright, White girl, How was vacation?" Lula asked as soon as we were on the road.

"It was great. I do need to talk to you and Connie later though. Also, I have the meetings with DEA, FBI, and ATF tomorrow morning at 8 am. If we get the contract with them we will stay busy and probably have to hire a few more people. We would make a lot of money though, the contract would have a regular profit since we are signed with them plus capture rewards."

"Danny talked to me and Connie about it and we both think it would be great to contract with them. We are going to sit on the meeting if that's okay with you." Lula replied.

"That's fine. When they contacted me they said all partner were welcome to attend the meeting. It will be at the office anyways so if there is an emergency one of us can respond accordingly." Lula nodded.

The rest of the ride was done in silence but when we pulled in the parking garage I noticed most of the guys were standing there waiting on us. They must have missed me, Connie and Eric were also standing there. I got out of the car and was hugged by everyone and then we started getting out my luggage.

Danny, Lula, Connie, and Eric helped me get everything up to my apartment while our employees went back to work. We got everything set in my apartment and I grabbed bottles of water for everyone before we sat down to talk business. I sat down on the couch and tucked my feet up under me.

"Any news on the stalker?" I asked

"No, nothing. He has made no more efforts to contact you but now that you are home again he could at any time." Danny said, I nodded.

"How was vacation?" Connie questioned.

"It was great. I wasn't ready to come back. Lester was able to meet me there, they still have no idea where we are at. Lester said Ranger was gone because he got a lead I was in D.C." They all laughed.

"How do you expect the meeting tomorrow morning to go?" Danny asked.

"It should be them telling us what would be expected of us, reading the contracts, and then deciding whether to sign them or not." They all nodded

"How are we doing on FTA captures?" I inquired.

"We have caught all but one and Joey and Jacob got a lead on him and were leaving when we got here to go see if they could catch him." I nodded

"Any other news I need to know about?" I eyed Lula suspiciously.

"Okay, okay! Jeez White girl, Danny and I are officially dating." I smiled knowingly at her and she looked away. I know she realized I had already figured it out.

"What about you Liz? You have a mysterious glow, care to tell us why." This coming from Mr. Quiet himself Eric.

"Um, well. Lester and I have decided to start dating there is just one small problem with that." I looked at them and they all nodded for me to go on. "He doesn't know where we live. I wanted to talk to you all before I gave everything away." They smiled at me.

"Can you wait until after we have our meeting tomorrow and then I say it should be okay." Connie replied and I nodded.

I got up and walked over to my luggage to get them the gifts I had bought while in Orlando. I dug through my bag for a few minutes before I found the gift wrapped packages. I handed each one their gift that was custom made and were engraved.

Lula opened hers first, it was a metal keychain in the shape of a stiletto pump one side of it said TNT and on the other side it said beauty. There was a note card with it that I had wrote out, it said '_You have true beauty. When faced with horrible circumstances you rose above them and became a stronger person. Your strength and devotion to those you love show a truly beautiful person.'_

Connie slowly opened hers, it was also a metal keychain but hers was a hand with brightly painted fingernails. One side of it said TNT and the other said Happy. I had done a note card for hers as well.

'_Happiness is looking at your life and being truly grateful for what you have. Through everything life has thrown your way you have stayed happy. Happy with your friends and family. I hope you always hold on to your happiness as it is what makes you the wonderful person you are.' _

Connie and Lula both had tears running down their faces as they read how I viewed them.

Danny pulled the wrapping paper off his and looked at it. It was a metal keychain with two Sig Sauer P220s crossing at the barrels, It also said TNT on one side on the other it said Soldier. On his note card I wrote _' The definition of hero is a person who sacrifices for the good of others. My definition of a hero is An American Soldier. You are a hero, You fought for our country and are an outstanding man. You are true soldier and a hero. I'm glad I got the chance to know you and am happy to call you my friend.'_

Last was Eric and I got him one because he has been a great help since we opened the business. His keychain was a bench press and said TNT on one side and the other said Friendship. He looked at his note card and smiled before reading it out loud. _'True Friends are hard to come by and I came by one in you. You have helped us continually with the business and getting contacts. You have asked nothing of us in return just friendship. You are an amazing person to give so freely of yourself to you friends. I am honored to have a friend like you.' _

I got up and hugged my friends I felt my gifts conveyed some of what I felt for them. No amount of words would ever say everything I felt for the great friends I have. They all hugged me and went their separate ways after our hugs.

I took my luggage into my bedroom and began to unpack when Betty came in to help me. She is the greatest and she treats each one of us as if we are her own children. I smiled up at her as she continued to help me put things away.

"How was your vacation Dear?" She asked once everything was put away.

"It was wonderful. Thank you for asking Betty."

"Is there anything specific you would like for dinner?"

"I don't think so. Whatever you fix will be perfect, Go ahead and bring enough for four please. I'm gonna have the three amigos up for dinner if they aren't busy."

She smiled at me, "They have missed you very much since you have been away." I smiled back at her before she bustled on out of the apartment.

I decided I wanted to go see my amigos but before that I wanted a shower and fresh clothes. I walked into the bathroom and took a quick shower, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and through on some yoga pants and a tank top. I grabbed my gun and tucked it into the back of my pants before heading down. I know my building is very secure but it has become a habit to always have at least one gun on me.

I rode the elevator down to the apartments and walked over to Diego and Marion's apartment and knocked on the door. Diego opened the door wide when he saw it was me and I walked in. They were all off work already and were lounging in Sweatpants and t shirts. I walked over to the couch and sat down.

"So Boss, you sure are glowing." Were the first words out of Diego's mouth.

"Is there a point to that statement?" I asked giving him a death glare. He put his hands up in the I surrender way.

"Don't be glaring at me. I was just curious if my boss is doing better after her vacation with her mystery man." He said while waggling his eyebrows.

"I am." I replied. Marion walked up and hit Diego in the back of the head.

" You keep flirting with the boss I bet she'll take you to mats and kick that sorry ass of yours." Marion told Diego. Ryan sat in chair shaking with silent laughter.

"Marion, I think you might be right" I said as I walked over to Ryan.

"Ryan, What the hell is wrong with you? You haven't made one smart ass remark." I questioned giving him a curious look.

"I figured I'd let Diego dig the hole this time." I laughed at his way of thinking.

Usually between the two of them all I hear are smart ass remarks and Marion is constantly hitting them upside the head. Honestly, I'm surprised neither one of them has brain damage from how many times they have been hit upside the head by Marion, Me, Lula, and Danny.

I love my guys but sometimes I think I hired a bunch of damn goofs. Connie, Lula, and Danny feel the same way but they sure do keep things interesting. I smiled back at the guys.

"You three have any plans tonight?" I asked.

"Hell no, The hottest boss around came back, we planned on giving her shit all night." Diego replied.

"Good. Dinner in my apartment then?"

"Hell yeah, you got the biggest TV." Was Ryan's reply.

I stood up and started walking to the door with the three goofs behind me. We rode up to my apartment in silence. There was a Ranger's game on that we were going to watch while we ate dinner. After it they would go down to their apartments.

Betty brought up vegetable lasagna which I must say is amazing. She also brought up a raspberry chocolate drizzle cheesecake. We rarely eat desserts but when we do she makes them as low fat as possible. I grabbed us a each a beer after dinner, after confirming they weren't on call tonight. We sat on the couch yelling at the TV about bad calls and drinking beer.

The guys left around 11 pm which was fine as I needed to get in bed so I could be up early since we had a meeting with the Feds. I fell asleep quickly and slept until my alarm went off at 5 am. I jumped out of bed fixed my ponytail and went down to the gym.

After an hour and a half in the gym, I went up to my apartment to get ready for the day. I took a shower and fixed my hair which since it has the straightener on it means I just do a quick blow dry and ta da my hair is beautiful and straight. I grabbed a black wide leg pant suit with a red button up shirt and red pumps. I did light make up going for the natural look other than mascara, it was a four coat day.

I made it down to the conference with ten minutes to spare, Connie, Lula, and Danny were already down there. Our Office Manager Mary was at the front desk and would escort the Feds into the conference room once they arrived. Betty had set up the conference room with coffee and bagels for us to eat during the meeting.

The Feds arrived right on time and we conducted the meeting with ease. It was a simple three year contract, 2 million dollars per year plus capture reward. They would call us with fugitives they needed us to capture and we would do our best to find and capture them. The other to businesses they used were Rangeman and Settlers. Rangeman had a few offices and Settlers only had one in L.A. and now they would be using us. We signed the contract and left the meeting.

I went directly to my office to check email and return phone calls. I needed to call Lester since I hadn't called him yesterday when I got home, I did text him though. I got all the phone calls returned and responded to the emails that needed my immediate attention. I sent Diego and Marion to go pick up any new FTA files from the bond's offices.

I picked up my phone to call Les, He answered on the second ring.

"Hey Beautiful."

"Hey Les, we got the contract I told you about."

"Congrats Baby, you deserve it. Thank you for the gift."

"Thanks and your welcome. Do you like it. So how was your return?""I love it. I was interrogated on what friend had an emergency and where I went but I told them nothing and they finally gave up." He paused before he started speaking again.

"We are leaving today to go after an FTA. We got a lead that he had left Jersey so we are going to try and find him."

"Good Luck."

"We'll get him. I may not be able to answer my phone much over the next few days though."

"Okay, Just be careful and call when you can."

"I will Beautiful. I got to get off here and finished packing."

"Bye Les." He disconnected.

I hung up and got back to work. I had searches that needed to be done and paperwork to catch up on and go over.

_Lester's POV_

I got to the airport and Tank was waiting on me with a grim look. I walked over to the SUV, throwing ym stuff in the back and climbing into the passenger seat.

"What's up Tank?" I asked

"Ranger's back and pissed that the lead was a no go and that you were gone when he returned." I nodded, knowing I'd have to deal with a pissed off Ranger when we got back to the office.

The rest of the drive was done in silence and we arrived at Rangeman, I took my stuff straight to my apartment. I started unpacking my things when I came across a small package with a bow on it. I opened it up and inside was a keychain in the shape of a pair of handcuffs. On side it said _Always_ and on the other side it said _With you._ There was a card laying under it and I opened the card to read Steph's writing.

_Lester,_

_I know we won't be able to be together daily as we live in different states but I wanted you to know I'm always with you. I have the exact same keychain but there is nothing engraved on mine I hope you like it._

_Love, _

_Beautiful_

She is truly the most amazing woman I know. I continued putting my things away when my phone beeped with a text message and it was Beautiful saying she was home but was having a meeting with her team and then dinner and watching a movie with some other friends.

I got all my stuff put away and went up to the control room. Ranger was in his office with Tank and Bobby and Cal and Woody were on monitors. Cal looked up at me.

"Boss wants to see you." I nodded and walked over to Ranger's office and knocked on the door.

"Enter." Was his gruff reply. I walked in and sat down I one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Where have you been?" He asked

"A friend had an emergency."

"What friend?"

"That's none of your concern." He gave me a look that said he would find out eventually.

"We need to head to NYC tomorrow. We have a lead on an FTA there, we will need to head out at 1100 hours. Be ready by then." We all nodded and he handed us the files.

"Go over them tonight and have it memorized tomorrow. We'll be gone up to a week. Dismissed." We all got up and exited his office.

I went straight to my apartment and watched some TV while I ate dinner and then went to bed. I got up early and went down to the gym to work out before I needed to get everything packed to leave.

I had showered and started packing when Steph called. I talked to her for a few minutes to let her know I might not be reachable at all times while we're gone and she was okay with that. Probably because she has to work anyways.

I headed up to the control room once I was completely packed and it was 1030 hours. Tank, Bobby, and Ranger were already there waiting for me. We rode down to the parking garage together and loaded up into SUV's. Tank and Ranger were in one and Bobby and I were in the other.

We know more than pulled out on the street when Bobby started his interrogating.

"So Les, Where did you go?"

"Florida." Maybe if I keep my answers as short as possible he'll quit asking.

"What friend did you meet there?"

"No one that concerns you."

"Do any of us no them?"

"Yes. Now drop it." He sat quietly for a few minutes before speaking again.

"Marion is living in NYC so is Diego. I'm thinking about seeing if they can get lunch or dinner with us. I'm going to talk to Ranger first. At least get with them before we leave NYC." I nodded.

"Where are they working at?"

"Some new business called TNT. I know they do skip tracing and their boss is hott according to Marion. Oh and Diego doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. It's amazing how different him and Ranger are."

"No Shit." We continued the rest of the drive in silence.

TNT is a new business and obviously has at least one female owner and they do skip tracing. If that's Steph's business she has been under our nose the whole time. I need to do some more research on this turn of events or maybe we'll run into her here, if that is her business. I'd probably be the only one to recognize her with straight red hair.

_**Alright don't hate me but chapter 10 will not be posted until Monday. I'm horrible I know but that it just they way it has to be. If I get a lot of reviews I might be extra nice and go ahead and post a chapter on Sunday. No posting tomorrow though. Also don't assume I'm going for option 3 from the last chapter because of this chapters ending, I have decided to somewhat combine all three options for a couple drama filled chapters. Reviews are appreciated. **_


	10. Chapter 10

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. I somewhat combined all three options on how Rangeman and TNT run into each other. Please Review. **_

_Steph's POV_

I finished up my paperwork and searches in record time. I had to go over our most recent FTA's and check email again. It was a never ending cycle and we had a core team meeting scheduled at 3 pm to go over new FTA's, new investigations, and personal security requests so we could assign them.

I finished up what I needed to and 2:45 pm and went to Danny's office which is where we were having our meeting. I had a stack of our new FTA's and an email from the FBI on fugitives they wanted us to start looking for. I sat on the couch in his office as Lula and Connie walked in.

Our meeting went over the basics what requests we had in and what jobs we were going to accept and what we were going to decline. We declined one of the investigation requests and two body guard requests. The investigation request was a parent wanting us to spy on their 22 year old to see if she was having sex. None of our business if she is. The two body guard requests we had guarded before and they tried to molest our men. Not going to happen again.

We discussed the new FTA's and decided who to assign them to and I would start searches on the fugitives the Feds gave us and then we would delegate those accordingly. By the time our meeting was over it was 5 pm. I decided I would nap. I knew Diego and Marion were going out to dinner with family. And then Connie, Lula, Danny, and Eric were going to a club tonight around ten which they invited me to. Maybe I'll go or maybe I'll stay in and try to call Lester.

I went up to my room and crawled into bed after stripping down for a nap.

_Lester's POV_

Bobby finally got a hold of Marion and Diego and they were meeting us for dinner at the Waldorf's restaurant. Ranger and Tank were also coming but as soon as we finished dinner it was work for us. We had leads that our skip was seen hitting different clubs every night. We wanted to watch him for a few night before we planned our takedown.

We had just finished getting ready for dinner and were wearing slacks with button up shirts. We rode the elevator down and found Marion and Diego along with Ranger and Tank waiting on us. We strolled over to them and were seated at a table in the back of the restaurant.

We ordered our dinner before we got into much of a conversation.

"How are you to liking your jobs here?" I asked curious about it.

"I love it. We have great bosses but our favorite Liz, she's beautiful, sweet, and has a great sense of humor. She is also fierce, I've seen her takedown men three times her size without even thinking about it. She doesn't back down but also knows how to have a good time. She calls us and Ryan our other partner in crime her three amigos." Diego said. We laughed at that.

"She's great but I think she works to much. She doesn't spend much time out of the building she's to busy making sure her department is perfect and everything is done accordingly." Marion said. We all nodded.

It sounded like Beautiful, if I asked a few more questions I might know for sure but they called her Liz.

"Has she taken a break since you all have worked for her?" I questioned.

"Yeah, she just got back from vacation. Said she had a great time. We were happy she got away from work, our other bosses our taking turns going on vacations but Liz went first." I nodded pretty sure it was Beautiful. As soon as this dinner was over I was calling her and hopefully this is where she lives and I can see her.

I missed her already it's an odd feeling for me but I know there is just something about her that makes me want to be with her always. It was a good feeling to have but I needed to be able to concentrate on my job too. We finished up dinner without anymore info on their boss and were able to cut up and let loose a little.

I made my way back up to the room I was in and went and set on my bed grabbing my phone to call Steph and see if NYC is where she is. Her phone rang three times before she answered.

"Hello." She sounded like she was asleep. I looked at the clock and it was only 7.

"Hey Beautiful, did I wake you?"

"Huh? Yeah, I was just taking a nap, it's okay I needed to get up anyways."

"I have a couple questions for you." I knew that would wake her up.

"Okay?" She said more as a question than a statement.

"Have you heard of a company called TNT?"

"Yeah."

"How about Diego Manoso and Marion Brown?"

"AH, your in NYC?" She questioned.

"Yep and just had dinner with Diego and Marion who were telling us about their hott boss."

"Those two shit heads." I laughed.

"Can I come see you? We aren't working tonight." I really hoped she said yes.

"I would love for you to. Do you need directions or will you take a cab?"

"A cab."

"Okay we are on 47th street. Call me when you pull up out front. I'll have to come let you in the building."

"Alright Beautiful. I've got to let Ranger know I'm leaving." I hung up after that. I know she's hates our phone manners and I really need to work on it with her, for her.

I walked out of my room after grabbing a duffle with a change of clothes just in case I stayed the night with her. I went over to where Ranger was sitting at desk on his laptop.

"I'm heading out to go meet with a friend who has some contacts and maybe able to get us a better lead on where this guy is." Ranger just nodded his head and I walked out to go catch a cab.

The cab pulled up to a big brick building looked to be about ten stories. It said TNT on the doors, judging by the building Beautiful was doing good for herself. I had already called her and saw her get out of an elevator as I approached the door. She entered some code and put her finger up to the wall and the door unlocked.

I smiled as she opened the door for me and as soon as it shut I had her in my arms and was kissing with all I had. She pulled away slowly and smiled at me before taking my hand and pulling me through what appeared to be a lobby. She was wearing jeans and t shirt. I looked down at her.

"You gonna show me around." She smiled.

"This is the lobby and there are two conference rooms on this floor, 2nd floor is gym, pool, and sauna. Third floor is electronics, fourth and fifth are employee apartments, and sixth is offices. Seventh is our caretakers apartment, eighth is storage, ninth and tenth are our apartments and the basement has a gun range and holding cells." Wow.. She had it going on in this building.

"Why don't you show me the basement, gym, your office, and I really want to see your apartment." She rolled her eyes at me and pulled me onto the elevator with her.

We rode down to the basement where the gun range was and I was shocked it was on the same level as Rangeman maybe even better. She opened a drawer and pulled out ear protection and then opened a door that looked to be just a regular wall but she had to enter a code beside it. It opened to a nice arsenal of weapons, she looked over at me.

"Practice room, none of the weapons in here are used outside the gun range. We keep the weapons we use on takedowns in a different area." I nodded and she handed me a Walther SP22-M4 an amazing but expensive gun. She grabbed a Walther PPQ .40 and got our targets said up. We both loaded our guns and shot repeatedly.

I pulled off the ear protection as she pulled both targets forward. She had perfect shots, 3 to the chest and 2 in between the eyes. Mine was also perfect, 4 to the chest and one between the eyes. We unloaded the guns and cleaned them before she put them and the ear protection away.

She then showed me the gym and it was state of the art, every piece of equipment brand new. We walked to a door and she opened it and it led to an Olympic size pool and another door which led to the sauna. It was amazing how much time had to have been put in to make this building this nice. `

We got back in the elevator and she showed me the offices and cubicles and they very professional but there were pictures on the desks. Most on Steph's desk were of her, Connie, and Lula and a couple with Diego, Marion, and another guy, there was one with Steph, Connie, Lula, and a guy I didn't know. She saw me staring at the picture and walked over.

She pointed to the guy in the picture with her, Connie, and Lula, "That's Danny, he trained us and is a partner in the business. He is also dating Lula now." I nodded at her.

She picked up the picture of her with Diego, Marion, and another guy, "You know these two goofs and this is Ryan, he's our medic and also one of my best friends. I call them my three amigos, they are almost always together and almost always causing trouble." She said with a laugh. I smiled at her.

She was definitely happy with her life and it showed, she was doing amazing. We walked out of her office and came face to face with the guy she called Ryan.

"Hey Hottie with the bangin body." He said to her with a mischievous grin and she slapped him in the back of the head.

"What are you doing up here Ry? Your off work." He kept that grin he had.

"I've got to get my little black book, you know I have needs and since my boss won't take care of them I have to depend on meaningless sex with meaningless women." She laughed even harder like this was their normal banter.

I was a little pissed that he talked to her like that but he reminded me of myself and she was laughing. She looked up at me.

"Lester this is Ryan my medic and resident horn dog. Ignore his sexual comments he makes them regularly." He nodded at me.

"Ryan this is Lester." He smiled at her and then got a twinkle in his eyes.

"This is the mystery guy from your vacation isn't it?" She nodded and he smiled again before sticking his hand out to shake mine.

"Nice to meet you man. Take care of the boss here." I nodded and grabbed her hand. We started back towards the elevator and she suddenly stopped, turned around and hollered at Ryan. He came walking around the corner.

"Ry, use a rubber and please come back with your clothes this time. It's not normal to leave dressed and come back in boxers." He blushed and turned his head away. I was definitely gonna ask about that later. Steph started speaking again.

"Oh and Ry, look for an adam's apple. If they have one abort the mission at all costs and move on." He nodded again and turned an even brighter shade of red. Steph busted out laughing and pulled me into the elevator.

We rode up to the tenth floor after she used a key fob that would allow us to go to that floor. We walked off the elevator and she unlocked what appeared to be her apartment door. It was a nice apartment that was very serene. She dragged me into the living room and we sat down on the couch. I smiled at her, my panty dropping smile.

"What was that about with Ryan?" I asked and she started laughing.

"We went out one night to celebrate a capture and Ry was flirting with what appeared to be a woman, anyways I noticed he/she had an adams apple but Ry was already leaving with him/her. We left the club a few minutes later and had just got back here when Ry shows up in nothing but his boxers, needless to say he found out it was really a he and didn't even put clothes on before leaving." All of this was said between laughs and I couldn't help but laugh too.

She pulled herself up and moved to where she was sitting on my lap and started kissing me. My phone rang so she pulled away breathless. I answered the phone.

"Santos."

"Lester, we're going out tonight you want to meet us there?" Bobby asked.

"Nah man, I'm good. I'll catch you later tonight or tomorrow morning."

"Alright, Ranger isn't going either looks like just me and Tank." He disconnected. I looked at Steph and she licked her lips.

I leaned in and begin kissing her again and then her phone rang. Damn, I was only able to catch her end of the conversation. "Liz…okay, did you get him?… What the hell Kyle?….Get your ass back here and you better start calling some contacts. You have to two damn days to catch his sorry ass… Call me when you get here." She hung up the phone and looked at me.

"As soon two of my guys get here, I've got to go deal with their dumbasses. Sometimes I swear they have their heads up their asses." I smiled at her. Seeing her like this as a boss was a major turn on.

"What happened?" I asked truly curious.

"They were supposed to go pick up a skip tonight from his house, he wasn't real dangerous, they know one in front and one in back and what do they do. Both of them took front and he looked out a window, saw them, and took off out the back and they lost him. It was an easy takedown." I nodded at her.

"What are you going to do?" I asked

"First I'm going to take both of them to the mats, then I'm going to make some calls see where the scumbag is posted up and I'm going to go with them to pick him up and make sure they still know how to do their damn job." She was taking them to the mats.

"You are taking them to the mats?"

"Yeah and I'll kick their asses. It won't be the first time nor the last." I nodded and her phone rang again.

"Liz… meet me in the gym." She hung up her phone.

She walked into what appeared to be her bedroom and I followed her, she changed into a shorts and a tank top with tennis shoes and grabbed my hand heading for the elevator. We rode down her in silence but she was obviously pissed.

She went straight to the mat and I saw one of the guys removing his weapons and shoes before going to the mat with her, he was a little bit smaller than me but not much. I was worried about how this was going to turn out. I must admit seeing her stretching on the mat was a turn on.

They started slowly circling each other and the next thing I know, punches and kicks were being thrown. She was quick and he only got one punch in when she took him down with a roundhouse kick to the head. He pulled himself up after a few minutes and went to what looked to be locker rooms and the other guy got on the mat with her.

He was better than the first but she was still quicker and took him out with a few jabs and a hell of a left hook. He laid there for a few minutes and was already starting to get quite the shiner. She helped him up and he went to the locker room. Steph disappeared through another door which I was assuming was the women's locker room.

After a few minutes she came out dressed in khaki cargoes with a khaki t shirt that said TNT on the front and a pair of Cat boots. She looked hot, the pants fit her amazingly and the shirt barely touched the top of her pants. She looked over at me,

"I've got to run upstairs to my office before meeting them in the garage, you can ride with us or you can hang out in my apartment."

"I'll ride with you." I said really wanting to see her in action.

We took the stairs to her office when we got in her office she went to what appeared to be a safe. Like everything else she entered some codes to open her safe and pulled out a utility belt and her weapons and began strapping them on. She had her utility belt loaded with a gun, extra clip, knife, cuffs, pepper spray, and a stun gun. She then strapped on a thigh holster with a glock and knife in it. Then added an ankle holster with another gun and knife. To see her like that was unbelievably sexy. She grabbed another utility belt and handed it to me.

"You roll with us, you go prepared." I nodded and put the utility belt on as she handed me equipment.

Within ten minutes we were ready to roll out. We walked down to the parking garage and the two guys were already down there waiting beside a Lincoln Navigator. She looked at them.

"Lester, that's Gavin and that's Kyle." She said pointing them out. I nodded my head at them and she pulled out her keys climbing in the drivers seat. It was different seeing her like this and I could tell she was an amazing boss but could be hard when she needed to be. We all sat in silence she and then she finally broke it.

"Lester, we've done takedowns together. You want to do this with me so I can show them how its done." I smiled at her.

"You got it Beautiful."

A few minutes later we pulled up to a small ran down looking brick house. It was listed as his place of residence and one of the guys contacts said he had come back after they left. Steph got out and checked her weapons before looking up at me.

"You take back, I'll take front. Gavin, Kyle watch, you both know how to do a takedown but here is another lesson. You screw up again by not following policy and you won't have to worry about a policy to follow at TNT because you won't have a job there." They both nodded sheepishly.

We got in position and I could hear Steph knock on the door. I watched through a window at the back of the house by the door as she did what she needed to. He went to shut the door but she stuck her foot in it and when he went to turn and run she reached out grabbed his arm and jerked him backwards causing him to lose his balance but she kept him upright and cuffed him.

I walked around the front of the house and helped her drag him to the car and load him up between Gavin and Kyle. We dropped him off at the cop shop and went back to TNT. We went up to her apartment and she made some calls and got more info on Rangeman's skip, which happened to be a skip she had picked up before. She did tell me he was a lot of fun and to go in fully prepared.

We spent the rest of the night cuddling on her couch and watching TV. Mainly, enjoying the feeling of being together.


	11. Chapter 11

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. Please Review. We are almost to the reunion. Enjoy! ; )**_

_Steph's POV_

I woke up the next morning curled up in Lester's arms, it was a wonderful feeling. I couldn't believe how much I realized by just being moving away from Trenton. I realized a lot about my feelings towards the men in my life and realized there was one man who made me feel the way I thought I should feel about man. That man is undoubtedly Lester.

I moved to get up and Lester tightened his arms around me, I rolled over gave him a quick kiss and then wiggled out of his arms to go to the bathroom. I did my business, brushed my teeth, and put on some gym clothes. I walked out of the bathroom and Lester was standing up I smiled up at his stretching form.

"I'm heading down to the gym, would you like to join me?" I asked him.

"Yeah, just give me a minute." I went into the living room and started the coffee maker.

I called Betty and told her to bring breakfast for two. The coffee had just finished brewing when Lester strolled into the living room in his gym shorts and tank top. I fixed us both a cup of coffee and grabbed two waters out of the refrigerator. We drank our coffee before heading down to the gym.

We walked down to the gym and it was full which is normal for early in the morning. We both hopped on a treadmill and started our runs. An hour and a half later we were both done with our workout, we made our way back upstairs just as Betty was bringing breakfast. She had made omelettes with vegetables and ham and turkey bacon.

We sat down for breakfast before taking showers. We still hadn't gone any further than kissing, we were taking it very slow. I finished my shower and he jumped in, I put on my work uniform and armed myself for the day before sitting on the couch waiting for him to get done.

A few minutes later he came in the living room in his Rangeman uniform, I smiled up at him.

"I've got to get down to my office but call me if you need any more info on your skip and I'll see what I can find out." He smiled at me before grabbing my hand and pulling me off the couch and into his arms.

"Beautiful, I hate that after this case I'm going back to Trenton and your staying here."

"I know Les but I can't leave my company and I won't. I hate that we live in different states but I'm doing what's best for me even if it means missing you." He nodded and kissed me with more passion than I had ever been kissed with.

He called Bobby to pick him up at a diner on the corner of the street and left to walk to the diner. I walked him to the door before going to my office. I had a lot of work to get done today, it seemed there was a never ending stack of paperwork on my desk. Plus, I still had to run searches on the federal fugitives.

I walked into my office and called Robert and Jacob to go to the Bond's Offices and pick up any new files they have for us. I got started on the searches I had for the federal fugitives when someone knocked on my door.

"Come on in." I called out. Diego and Marion walked in with mischievous smiles on their faces. They sat down on the couch in my office.

"Shouldn't you two be working?" I asked. They laughed and Diego smiled.

"So Boss, I saw that Mr. Lester Santos was here this morning. Care to explain?" Diego questioned.

"I don't have to explain anything since I'm the boss."

"Oh come on! What's up with you and Santos? Was he the mystery man?" Marion wondered. I smiled at them.

"Back to work you two." I told them.

They rolled their eyes before walking out of my office. I went back to working on my searches and some of the paperwork that was on my desk before Robert and Jacob came in with the new files. I took the files and looked through each one before deciding who would get which skip.

After deciding which teams would get which skips, I took the files to the desks so they could run searches on them. I had just sat back down at my desk when Lula came sauntering in, the thing with Lula is she never knocks unless your door is locked. She immediately sat down on the couch and waited for me to look up from the computer.

I looked up and smiled at her, "What's up Lula?"

"Well, I heard the Rangemen are in town and I also heard Lester was here this morning. I did gym time early this morning so I wasn't there when you were." I nodded at her.

"I know it might not be a good idea but tomorrow night Connie and I were wanting to go out. Eric and Danny are going to but we would really like you to join us and maybe Lester too."

"I'll check with Lester but they are here working a case so I doubt he'll be able to go. I want to go though, I haven't gone out much the last few weeks." She nodded.

"I knew you would want to." She smiled and got up and sauntered right back out of my office. I shook my head and started working again.

I looked at the clock and to my surprise it was already 12:30, I got up and went in the break room grabbing grilled chicken salad and a bottle of water. I had just sat back down at my desk when my office phone rang, it was never ending.

"TNT, this is Liz." I answered

"Liz, my name is Carlos Manoso of Rangeman and I was wondering if you might be able to help us with a skip we are looking for."

"I can check with some contacts for information on him but I won't be able to assist in a capture as we are swamped with cases right now." Damn, hope he doesn't recognize my voice.

"That would be greatly appreciated, we should be able to handle the takedown but we don't have many contacts in this area."

"I'll see what I can find out and let you know."

"Thank you his name is Alesandro Martinez."

"I'll let you know" Was my reply and then I hung up.

I checked with a few of my contacts and found out Alesandro was moving around frequently so it was hard to find him at a house but he frequented three clubs almost nightly. Pulse, Club Envy, and Afterlife, the three hottest clubs in the area. I knew the bouncers at all three so it shouldn't be a problem getting Rangeman in. I called Ranger to let him know what I had found out.

"Yo." Huh, some things never change.

"This is Liz at TNT. I got some information for you. Alesandro doesn't have a residence here, he stays with different people every night. He is known to frequent three different clubs Pulse, Club Envy, and Afterlife, he usually goes to all three nightly."

"Thank You." And he disconnected. Yep, some things don't change.

I decided to tackle the work I had in front of me, I had just started on the mountain of paperwork when there was another knock on my door.

"Come on in." Danny walked in carrying a package. He set it down on my desk and took a seat in one of my chairs.

I looked down at my package and knew it was from my stalker, my spidey sense was tingling. I looked back at Danny and he spoke.

"Same type of package as last time and same writing." I nodded and pulled out a pair of gloves in the top drawer of my desk. I slipped them on and opened the package.

There were four pictures of me all with targets painted on different parts of my body. Two pictures were of when Lester and I had done the takedown and two were when I met him at the front door of the building. There were two with targets on my head, one to the heart, and one to the stomach.

I had to put my head between my legs to keep from hyperventilating. Once I calmed down I pulled out a letter that was also in the package and it said.

_Liz,_

_It seems you aren't very cautious of your surroundings. You should pay more attention or don't that will make it easier on me. I see you are still doing a man's job._

_Yours Truly._

I took slow deep breaths as I finished reading the note.

I looked up at Danny. "Any idea on who the stalker is yet?"

"Nope, we need to get this checked for fingerprints, I'll take it down to Ben and see if he can pull anything off of it." I nodded and Danny got up grabbing the package, letter, and pictures to take to Ben.

He shut the door as he walked out of my office and I went back to work. Staying busy would keep my mind off of it and I had plenty of work that needed to be done. I got started on reading takedown reports and adding notes where I needed to before I would give them Mary and she would file them away. I was very glad we had hired her as she was wonderful at making sure everything ran smoothly.

Three hours later I had finished going through all the reports and had given them to Mary, I had just sat back down at my desk when my cell phone went off. I looked at the screen and it was Lester.

"Hey Les" I answered.

"Hey Baby. How's your day going?" He asked.

"Busy, I'm almost completely caught up so hopefully I can get out in the field tomorrow. I hat being stuck at my desk all day." I replied smiling that he even cared.

"The joys of being a boss."

"Yeah, I suppose. How is your day going?"

"Not bad, we got some more info on the skip and we are going to try to catch him tonight but if not tonight tomorrow night."

"Good Luck." I replied.

"Thanks, if we get done early do you want to meet up somewhere?"

"Could you just come here, my stalker sent another package and we have one of our guys looking for fingerprints and hopefully we can find out who it is. Tomorrow night though, Connie, Lula, Danny, and Eric are going out and wanted to know if we could join them. I'll probably go but if you can I'd love for you to come."

"I'll see what I can do Beautiful." I heard a knock on my door yet again.

"Les, I gotta go, I've got someone in my office. I'll call you later this evening."

"Bye Baby." And he disconnected before I could respond.

Ben walked in my office as I hung up the phone.

"Any news for me Ben?" I asked

"Nope, no fingerprints on the package."

"Okay, thanks Ben. We'll just have to keep looking. Any of the trackers showing any of them were in either area when the pictures were taken?"

"Three have been in the area when the pictures were taken. Alesandro Martinez, Jack Bollings, and Andreas Bartlett." I nodded and he walked back out.

This shit was getting crazy, it could be either of the three, none were very happy about getting taken in by a woman. I got back to the searches and started printing them off. I looked at the clock just as they finished and noticed it was already six pm. I put everything in it's place and turned off the computer, locking my office before heading upstairs to relax.

I got up to my apartment and called Les, he answered on the second ring.

"Hey Baby."

"Hey Les."

"Any news on your stalker?"

"We have narrowed it down to three skips I've taken in before but we aren't sure which so we are going to keep monitoring them."

"That's good at least you have it narrowed down."

"Yeah, so are you going to make it here tonight?"

"Looks that way, there haven't been any sightings on the skip. Bobby and I are at one club and Ranger and Tank are at the other. Ranger and Tank are going to check the other club but so far nothing. I think we are going to wrap it up in an hour."

"Okay, Call me when you get here and I'll meet you downstairs. I'll get you the codes to the door and get your fingerprints added into the system so you can come in on your own."

"Alright Baby, Ranger is calling Bobby so hopefully I can head over soon." I hung up with Les and hopped in the shower.

_Les's POV_

_I hung up with Steph and had to make an effort not to call her Beautiful, Bobby knew she was the only one that I ever called that particular nickname. He looked over at me while he talked to Ranger, I knew he would start questioning me as soon as he got off the phone. He hung up with Ranger and looked at me._

"_Baby Huh?" He asked_

"_Yes Bobby."_

"_Serious?" I smiled as I thought about it._

"_Pretty serious." I replied_

"_So, who's the lucky lady?"_

"_You'll find out in time but now is not the time." _

"_Ranger said to wrap it up for the night and try again tomorrow night. Do I need to drop you off somewhere?"_

"_Yeah the Diner you picked me up at this morning." He nodded and took off towards the Diner._

_We pulled up to the diner a short time later and I walked in as I waited for him to pull off. Once he was around the corner I called Beautiful and started walking towards her building. She was waiting for me when I got there and kissed me as soon as I was in the door. _

_We got in the elevator and she took me to the third floor to get my fingerprint and palm print scanned so I would be in there system. I met Ben who looked to be mid twenties, blonde hair, brown eyes and one of the smaller guys she employed. He handed me a piece of paper with the code on it and Stephanie spoke._

"_Memorize it and throw it away." I looked at it and read over it a few times before throwing it away. _

_We went up to her apartment and settled on the couch discussing our day before heading into the bedroom for some sleep. We still hadn't taken it any further than kissing and teasing but hopefully soon we would._


	12. Chapter 12

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. Please review! The fun begins in this chapter.**_

_Steph's POV_

I woke the next morning snuggled up in Lester's arms, I gently rolled out of bed but woke him in the process. I went in the bathroom and did my morning routine throwing on my gym clothes. I walked out of the bathroom and he was waiting for me in basketball shorts and a tank top.

"Good Morning Beautiful." He said as he pulled me into a kiss.

"Good Morning."

We walked into the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of water, I started the coffee so it would be ready by the time we got back from the gym. I called Betty and again ordered breakfast for two.

We went down to the gym and started our workouts. Two hours later we finished our workouts and went back up to my apartment. I wanted to go over the searches on the federal fugitives today and probably run a few more searches on them before getting ready to go out with Connie and Lula.

We both showered separately again and got dressed in our uniforms, his being a Rangeman. I sat down at the bar and he followed me, Betty had brought up whole wheat pancakes and fruit for breakfast this morning. I put pancakes on each of our plates and dished out some fruit. I smiled at Lester as I took my first bite.

"Beautiful, if you were serious about it, I am thinking of coming to work here for you when my contract at Rangeman goes up."

"I was serious, I'll have to talk to Connie, Lula, and Danny but I really don't think it would be problem. I would love to have you here." He nodded at me. We finished breakfast in a comfortable silence and I walked into the living room after rinsing our plates and he followed me in and sat down on the couch.

He looked over at me. "What's wrong beautiful?"

"Umm… I was just thinking. This is hard for me to talk about." I took a deep breath trying to calm my nerves, I was really curious as to why we hadn't proceeded to a more physical relationship.

"Is there something wrong with me that has kept you from attempting a more physical relationship with me?" I asked sheepishly staring at my hands.

"Baby, no I just want to make sure your ready. I don't want to push anything with you." He said as he pulled me towards him. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You are beautiful, sweet, and incredibly smart." I nodded and kissed him as passionately as I could but we were broke apart by my phone ringing.

I looked at my phone and it was Connie calling.

"Liz" I answered in my standard greeting.

"Hey girl, We have a meeting in an hour, Danny just sent me an email that he was pulling a meeting together. It's sudden so I don't know what's going on. Anyways I saw you hadn't made it down yet so I knew you hadn't checked email."

"Thanks. Conference room or his office?"

"His office, it's just going to be us."

"Ok, thanks for letting me know. I'll be down there in a few. I've got some stuff to go over with you all anyways."

"Alright, see you in a few girl." She hung up. I looked back at Lester and he was smiling.

"I guess the boss has work to do?" He questioned.

"Yeah, a boss's job is never done." He nodded and got up grabbing his duffel bag.

"Call me later and let me know if you can meet us at the club." I said to him as we walked to the door.

"I will Beautiful." He leaned in and gave me another kiss. We walked out and got on the elevator, I got off at the offices while he rode down to the lobby.

I walked into my office and grabbed the searches I had done yesterday on the feds cases and did a quick read through of them. By the time I had finished the reading through them it was time to head to Danny's office for the meeting.

I walked in and plopped down on the couch, Lula was already sitting on the couch so we were just waiting on Connie. Connie strolled in a few minutes later. Danny started the meeting.

"Mary stopped by my office this morning with some applications we have received, with us taking on federal cases we are definitely going to need to hire some more guys. I've reviewed the applications we have received and three meet what we are looking for but will need to be interviewed. To have full staff we'll need to hire four." We all nodded before I spoke up.

"Lester is interested in coming to work here, he has six months left on his Rangeman contract but he may be able to get out of it." Connie and Lula smiled at me.

"That would be great since he has experience in fieldwork." I nodded happily.

"Next is we need to have another policy meeting with our current teams since it seems they are having problems following policy. I would like to do it with everyone even ones we aren't having trouble with."

"I agree we need to go over policy with them again." Connie replied. Lula and I nodded.

"I'll go over what the teams have scheduled and see when I can schedule them for the policy review. I'll go over all of it today but I will not start doing the review until I'm back from my vacation which starts tomorrow." Danny said with a smile.

"I finished up the searches on the feds guys we need to try and takedown. I have some good information but will need to do some further digging. They are good at dodging any attempts at capture so we are going to have to be extremely sneaky and cautious. I'm going to be running checks on credit cards and bank accounts, I have previous addresses but they aren't going to be there. I will also be calling some contacts to see what I can find." I handed them each a file on the fugitives. "You might also tap your contacts and see if you can come up with anything." They all nodded understanding.

"Connie, Lula, do you have anything you need to go over?"

"No" was Lula's reply while Connie just shook her head.

I got up and went to my office to start the credit card and bank account searches. I had almost finished them when Connie and Lula walked into my office. I smiled at both of them as they sat down on the couch.

"What's up" I asked.

"Tonight we are wanting to leave around 9, that gives up plenty of time to eat dinner and get ready." Cannie said.

"That's fine." I replied.

"We just want to make sure you are comfortable going out. You know, with the stalker."

"It's fine, I'm prepared to handle him. We all are, no worries." They both got up to go back to work.

I continued to work on the credit cards and bank information and printed it out when I was done. I called the Bond's offices and they didn't have any new files for us. I called each team in one at time that had cases open to see how they were progressing.

They all seemed to be progressing fine and most were about ready to make the capture. I had finished meeting with all the teams when Ryan, Diego, and Marion walked into my office.

"What do you three want?" I questioned

"Well Boss, it seems you had Lester over again and he stayed the night again." Ryan replied.

I smiled at them. "Are you jealous?" I asked laughing.

"Maybe just a little." Was Diego's response.

"Get to work, you have FTA's to pick up and I have a mountain of paperwork to do."

"Boss, We know you have to do that stuff but we really miss you being out in the field and we know you miss it too." Marion said.

"As soon as we take care of my stalker and I get caught up on the endless amount of paperwork I'll be back in the field." They all nodded and walked out.

I did miss field work it had become my favorite thing after being trained. I no longer roll in garbage or get short of breath chasing a skip and I can defend myself better. Hopefully, I can get back in the field soon but first I've got to get intel gathered on these federal cases and get a handle on my stalker. Being an owner of a business has made me a lot more responsible.

I know I can't go and do what I want when I have a stalker. I have to be careful and plan how to deal with the situation but with that said I was going out with my friends tonight. I could only hope that Lester would be able to come and maybe tonight could be the night.

By the time the bank and credit card records were done it was lunch time. I printed off everything I had found out and added it to the files. I walked into the break room and grabbed a turkey sandwich, banana, and bottle of water before heading back to my office.

After finishing my lunch I pulled out my book with all my contacts to start making calls. Three hours later I had quite a bit of information on the guys we were looking for. It seems one has made a residence out of a warehouse and the other was living with his cousin. Should be easy once we start surveillance on them and get a plan together based on their routines.

I decided I would go ahead and call it a day, I put everything away, shut down the computer, turned the lights off and locked the door before going up to my apartment.

I walked in my apartment and placed a call to Betty asking her for dinner at 6. I decided that I had three hours until dinner and I was going to use that time wisely and take a nap. I stripped down to just my shirt and panties before laying down.

I woke up at 5:30 to my alarm going off. I slowly dragged my butt up out of bed and freshened up just enough to eat dinner. I would shower and get ready after I ate. Betty came in at exactly 6 carrying a tray with Chicken Casserole, it had become one of my favorites that she made. It was chicken, zucchini, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, and mushrooms baked together and covered in cheese.

I finished my dinner and went to the bathroom to start the beautification process. I showered, shaved, exfoliated, and moisturized. After my shower I put on a light pink lace bra and panty set, I then made my way to the closet to pick out a dress. I ended up removing the bra to put on my Victoria's Secret Invisible push up bra for the dress to work. It was a black one shoulder dress that fell mid thigh, it had no back until right above my butt and fit like second skin. I put on a pair of black cross strap platforms I bought at V.S they had a silver strap across the top of my foot and then had black cross straps on the ankle, they have 1 ½ in platform and 5 1'2 inch heel.

I fixed my hair which since I had a chemical straightener on was easy and did my make up smoky and sensual. I looked at the clock and it was 8:30, I went back in my bedroom and got my diamond hoop earrings with a diamond tennis bracelet. I took one last long look in the mirror and had to admit I looked hot. I had no place on me to put a gun so I put my gun in my handbag.

I made my way out of the apartment just in time to see Lula get out of the elevator. She looked great, she had on a hot pink tube dress with white FMP's. I smiled at her as she looked me over.

"Damn! White girl you look hot!"

"Thanks girl, you do too." She knocked on Danny's door and he came out looking equally hot.

Danny was wearing Black Dockers that were tight in all the right places and a hunter green silk button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looked great. He kissed Lula after looking her over and smiled at me.

"You look amazing Liz. I hope Lester is able to make it." He then looked back at Lula. "Chelle you are so gorgeous." She kissed him and then we made our way to the elevator.

Connie and Eric would be waiting in the garage for us. We got out of the elevator and Connie and Eric also looked amazing. Connie had on a skin tight leopard print dress with spaghetti straps that was very tight and Eric had on Khaki Dockers and a tight silk brown button up shirt. He too had rolled up the sleeves to his elbows.

We loaded in to Danny's vehicle which was a black Ford F-150 Harley Davidson Edition. Danny and Eric set up front while Connie, Lula, and I piled into the back. It was a short drive to the Club and we made it in record time.

We got out of the truck and went through the employee entrance. It was how we entered most clubs because the owners knew us and knew we weren't going to relinquish our weapons. I stopped a moment to let my eyes adjust.

The bar was directly in front of where we entered. There was a dance floor in the middle of the building, it was surrounded by tables and the bar. There was a DJ on the far wall in front of the dance floor. There weren't very many people as of yet but in about an hour the place would be packed to capacity.

We found a table in the corner next to the DJ booth and sat down while we waited on the waitress to come get our drink orders. We had just got comfortable when she stopped by our table and we ordered a pitcher of margaritas and a pitcher of beer.

We were all on high alert being at night club, we were diligently watching our surroundings checking for any threats. There was a good possibility my stalker would show his presence tonight and we were all being careful for that.

Our drinks were delivered and we all started drinking and swaying in our seats to the music while making small talk.

_Ranger's POV_

Tank, Lester, Bobby, and I had just pulled up to Club Envy, one of the bartenders called us and said our skip would definitely be there tonight. I asked a few questions to see if I could trust his information and I believed him. Bobby and I would be inside the club while Tank and Lester would wait outside the club.

We were all wired for sound so we would be able to hear everything. This way we could be in constant contact letting each other know what was going on in the area we were in.

I walked in and stopped for a moment to let my eyes adjust before finding a spot against the wall to watch where I could see all the comings and goings. Bobby would be across the club where he could watch. I looked around and didn't notice much of anything that stuck out to me.

Stephanie was here though, I could feel it. I looked around for her but didn't see her anywhere. I did see a couple of old army buddies of mine, Danny and Eric, Danny was with a girl that looked like a skinnier version of Lula. There were two other women at the table but I couldn't tell what the looked like. I noticed one had red hair and the other had a very dark brown hair or at least that's what it looked like from where I was standing.

I noticed Bobby kept looking at that table also, finally I spoke through our com link.

"What is it Bobby, you keep eyeing that table and we are here on a job."

"Nothing Ranger, just looked like someone I used to know."

"Focus on the job." And that ended that conversation.

I noticed the women at the table got up and made their way towards the bathroom. The red head looked so familiar but I couldn't place her. The club was starting to fill up and it was getting difficult to see around on the people. I still had a good vantage point where I was at but I might not for long.

I continued to scan the area for the skip but hadn't seen him yet. The only way he could get in without me seeing him would be to go through a different door than the front entrance. I spoke into the com's once again.

"Anyone got eyes on the skip?"

"No." Came from Bobby.

"Nope." Came from Tank.

"I saw what looked like him pull into the parking lot but never saw him go in. The vehicle is now empty."

"Keep your eyes and ears open." I replied.

I continued to look around when I heard commotion coming from the area by the bathrooms. I let the others know I was going to check it out and started walking towards the hallway that led to the bathrooms. When I got to the hallway I felt my breath catch in my throat.

In the hallway was a red headed version of Steph who I was pretty sure was Steph and she was fighting my skip. The girl who I thought looked like Lula was in fact Lula but she had lost a lot of weight and the other was no doubt about it Connie and even she had lost a lot of weight. They looked great.

My focus went back to Steph fighting the skip and there was no way I could get involved with getting myself hurt. Plus, Steph was holding her own and I was in shock. Where was the girl who couldn't defend herself? Where was the bumbling Stephanie I knew. This was not her, this one was strong, fierce, and looked to be very dangerous.

I looked around once again and noticed Danny and Eric walk up. I let my guys know what was going on and they too came running. We all watched as Steph ended the fight with a right hook to his jaw and a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. He went down like a ton of bricks. Steph rolled him where she could cuff him and stuck her hand out. Lester handed her a pair of cuffs, she cuffed him and stood up. She looked at her friends that she was with and smiled before speaking.

"I found my stalker." They all smiled and hugged her.

I noticed she looked at Lester grinned and then kissed him. It was like she didn't even notice I was there, I heard Tank and Bobby gasp when she kissed Les but he just wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back for all he was worth. What the hell was going on?

_**AN: Decided to leave you hanging on that one. How do you think Ranger will take not only finding her but finding her trained and then seeing her kiss Les? I will give a sneak peak of the next chapter to reviewers! ; )**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. Review Please. And the drama continues.**_

_Steph's POV_

I had found my stalker and after having him cuffed I hugged my friends and then noticed Lester standing there. I couldn't control myself even if I had wanted to, I kissed him with everything I had and he wrapped his warm arms around me and kissed me back.

We slowly pulled away and I looked around and noticed Tank and Bobby with confused looks on their faces and Ranger's jaw kept tightening showing he was very pissed. I finger waved at the guys and smiled.

"Hey guys." I said. Nobody said anything just stared at me.

"Beautiful, I think they are in shock." Was Lester's reply.

I smiled at them and grabbed Lester's hand and dragged him to the dance floor we began dancing to some hip hop songs I didn't know. I rubbed against him and felt his reaction against me. They began to play a slow song that I recognized as Alicia Keys the song was _Unthinkable._ I wrapped my arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around my waist as we slow danced to the song.

After that song we walked to the table where Connie, Lula, Danny, Eric and Bobby were sitting. I guessed Tank and Ranger left to drop the skip off at the P.D until tomorrow morning when they would transport him to Trenton. I smiled at everyone and sat down on Lester's lap. Bobby was looking at us skeptically,

"What's up Bobby?" I asked after enduring his stare for long enough.

"Just curious about all this. You leave and no one knows where you are, we search high and low for you to be in New York and then when we see you, you takedown a dangerous skip and kiss Lester."

I looked at Lester and he nodded answering my silent question as to whether I should tell Bobby.

"After I left Trenton I realized a lot of things about the men in my life, one being while I did love Ranger and Joe I was not in love with either of them. Connie, Lula, and I trained our asses off and then opened the business. I was finally able to take some time off and chose to go down to Florida, I called Lester and he met me there. We spent time together and I realized my feelings for him so here we are." Bobby nodded and appeared to be thinking about everything I just told him.

He looked at Lester. "Is she who you were talking to last night." Lester smiled.

"Yep." I looked at Lester and kissed his cheek.

We all continued to drink our drinks and make idle chit chat. It seemed like no time had passed when they announced last call. We all got up and were all a bit drunk, well all but Bobby, Lester, and Eric. Eric was our designated driver tonight and only drank two glasses of beer and that was when we had first arrived at the club.

We all piled out of the club and Bobby agreed to let me ride with him and Lester and he wanted a tour of our building anyways. He followed Eric in Danny's truck back to the building and pulled into our underground parking garage. We went up the stairs while my team took the elevator.

I showed Bobby each floor and he seemed surprised at not only how nice the building was but that we had the latest equipment on every front. I showed him up to my apartment and we had just walked in when his phone rang. He looked at the screen and answered.

"Brown." Judging by his tone I guessed it was Ranger.

"We are at Bomber's building." He looked over at me and then covered the phone to speak to me.

"Do you care if Ranger and Tank head over." I shook my head no.

"Tell them to call when they arrive and I'll open the gate so they can pull in and Lester can meet them at the elevator he has a key fob to get up here." Bobby nodded and returned to his phone call.

"She said to call when you are close and she'll open the gate so you can pull in the garage. Lester will meet you at the elevators. It's on 47th street." Bobby then disconnected and looked at Les and me.

"Bomber, are you sure about this? Ranger is pissed right now." I smiled at Bobby's concern for me.

"He's coming into my territory I'm not the least bit worried. If you will excuse me I am going to change into some more comfortable clothes. I get the feeling this is going to be a long night." They both nodded and I walked into my bedroom.

I changed into some sweat pants and a tank top before going in the bathroom and washing off my make up and I put my hair in the best pony tail I could manage. I walked back into the bedroom to find Lester changing into his basketball shorts and a tank top. He smiled up at me and I walked over and sat down on his lap. I had really hoped tonight would be the night but it didn't look like that was going to happen.

"Do you know how hot it was to watch you takedown that skip?" He asked as rubbed my back.

"No, would you like to tell me?" I questioned but he was saved by Bobby knocking on the bedroom door.

"Bomber, Ranger just called they are a block away." I reluctantly pulled away from Les and walked into the kitchen starting the coffee pot before heading down to open the gate.

I walked into my office and turned on my computer as soon as I saw them at the gate I entered the code on my computer to open the gate. I turned my computer back off and headed back upstairs, I had just opened the door to my apartment when the elevator doors opened and Tank, Ranger, and Lester got off.

Tank looked surprised, Ranger still looked pissed, and Les looked amused. I opened the apartment door for them and showed them into the living room. I grabbed the coffee pot and mugs and took them into the living room. The guys had taken up all the available seating so I sat down on Lester's lap. I fixed Les and I each a cup of coffee and handed his to him.

I stared at Ranger and Tank who were seated next to each other waiting for one of them to speak. If they thought I was going to speak first they were in for a rude awakening. I now knew how to wait people out. We sat staring at each other for a while and finally Ranger spoke.

"Care to explain what the hell is going on? Babe, Lester?" This was said in his no nonsense, dangerous tone.

I knew we needed to talk about everything and I knew he was going to be even more pissed if that was possible.

"When Connie, Lula, and I left we had the support of the Family to start a business, we all knew skip tracing so that was what we were going to do. The Family said we had to get training so we started looking and met Eric he sent Danny our way and Danny trained us. We started out as private investigators and expanded into skip tracing. We contacted Bond's offices and they started sending files our way, now we also have a personal security department. Anyways being gone made me realize a lot about myself and how I felt about the people around me. When I left I already knew Joe and I would never work out that we wanted different things and that I loved him but not the forever kind of love. Joe and I broke up right before I left. I had thought for a long time I was in love with you Ranger but I looked at a picture of us one day and realized I do love you but I'm not in love with you, I was in love with the idea of you. In realizing that I also realized that there was something between Lester and I and I wanted to explore that. I talked to Lester as often as I could and when I took a four day vacation I called Lester to meet me there. He did and we are trying out a relationship, he didn't know where I was until you all came to New York having dinner with Diego and Marion he put two and two together and realized I was their boss." Ranger was still clenching his jaw.

He was looking at me and Lester with fury in his eyes. We both sat patiently waiting for him to say something. He finally spoke.

"So Lester, you hid it from the rest of us when you went to see her and when asked about who you saw you gave no inclination as to seeing her."

"Ranger, she asked me not to and I wasn't going to betray her trust in me." Lester replied.

"So you chose to betray my trust in you?" Ranger responded. I decided it was time to step in and just as I was about to open my mouth my phone rang and there was a knock on my door. I got up to answer the door and answered my phone at the same time.

"Liz" I answered the phone as I opened the door. On the other side of the door was Connie, Lula, Danny and Eric. They walked in and went directly to the living room while I was on the phone. I listened as Robert, one of our employees told me that Joey had been shot during a takedown and was being taken to the hospital. I hung up with him and walked in the living room.

"I would love to finish this conversation but one of our employees just got shot and we are needed at the hospital. You can wait here Lester has access to mostly everything or you can leave and I can call you when I'm done at the hospital." I said looking at the men in my living room.

"I'll wait here Baby." Lester responded first. The other Rangemen just nodded their heads.

I walked into my bedroom and changed into my uniform and armed myself before walking back into the living room. Lula, Connie, Danny, and Eric were standing up waiting on me. I leaned over and kissed Lester before walking out the door to go to the hospital.

_Ranger's POV_

_It was hard to speak past the lump in my throat, I couldn't believe this. I knew Steph and I would never work but for some reason I always held out hope that maybe we would. I also knew she was doing what was best for her and Lester was a good man._

_I could only hope that she would understand I was angry about not knowing where she was, I was angry about Lester not telling me he saw her and I was angry that he was the man she wanted. I knew that it was for the better this way. Steph was open and I was closed, it just wouldn't work. _

_Lester is a good man and could make her happy but it still bothered me for reasons I didn't know. After her team walked out the door I looked at Lester. _

"_You betrayed my trust." He nodded._

"_You know that means we will be meeting on the mats." He nodded again._

"_Are there mats here?" He nodded and got up grabbing a key fob similar to the one I have at Haywood._

_I followed him onto the elevator and we rode down to the second floor and we got and walked through another door into a gym that was even better than my gym. Lester started stripping his weapons before stepping on the mat and stretching. I did the same and stepped on the mat. I knew this was my chance to get my anger out. I couldn't take it out on Steph but I could take it out on Lester. Bobby and Tank sat down in chairs beside the mat as Lester and I began circling each other. _

_We were on the mat for an hour before we called it even. Both of us looked rough and would have numerous bruises tomorrow. Lester walked into a locker room and I followed him and we both took showers. Lester grabbed some basketball shorts that he apparently kept here and handed me another pair. I looked at him curiously._

"_Betty, the housekeeper here, washed my shorts and put them down here." I nodded and slipped them on. _

_I followed Lester and we went back up to her apartment. We sat back down in the living room and Tank was the first to speak._

"_She looks good, real good and seems to be happy."_

"_I agree, that's the best she has ever looked." Bobby replied._

"_She's happy with her life, she has a business that she loves and friends that support her why wouldn't she look good." Lester responded. I could feel my anger building back up._

"_She could have been happy in Trenton." I told them with fury once again in my voice._

"_No she couldn't have. She wouldn't have gotten trained and she would have to deal with her mother's verbal abuse and Morelli's verbal abuse constantly. Here is better for her." Lester said angrily._

"_Lester why the hell didn't you just fucking tell us you saw her?" I asked_

"_Because she asked me not to, so I didn't."_

"_I hope you realize you may not have a job when we return to Trenton since you betrayed my trust."_

"_I figured as much but irregardless when my contract is up I'm coming to work here." Son of a bitch, he wants me to fire him now so he can be with her. _

_About that time Steph walked back in the apartment with her team. She sat back down on Lester's lap and her team all sat on the floor. Lester looked at her. _

"_How is your employee." He asked._

"_He'll be fine. He going to need physical therapy for a while. The bullet went through the muscle and was lodged in the bone. He's out of surgery and they are going to keep him for a couple of days but he won't be able to do field work for a while. Eric is going to take his place for now." Lester nodded at her. _

_She looked him over and realized he was bruised up and smiled._

"_You two make use of the mats?" She asked. We both nodded._

_I looked over at her. "Can I speak to you somewhere private?" I asked. She nodded and got up, I followed her into an office in her apartment. _

_The office was nice and suited her. She sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk and I sat in the other and looked at her. _

"_Why Babe?" She looked at me closely._

"_Ranger, there are so many things you could be asking why about can you please specify."_

"_Why did you leave?"_

"_Why not? I had nothing to keep me there. Joe and I were over and never wanted the same things to begin with, my mother did nothing but bitch at me about my life and try to tear me down. And then there was you, at the time I thought I really wanted something more than friends with but you didn't do relationships. Nothing was keeping me there so I left and started fresh." _

"_You look good Babe." She smiled._

"_Thanks Ranger." I kept looking at her._

"_Why didn't you tell us where you were?" "What would have happened if I did? I'll tell you what, I would have no peace and be constantly bombarded with you guys and they would have been following me around trying to ensure my safety. That's not what I wanted. I learned to stand on my own two feet and depend on myself." I nodded that made sense._

"_Why Lester?" I asked truly curious._

"_Lester makes me laugh, always has. He makes me happy, after I left I spent a lot of time thinking and I realized that I love you but as a best friend and then my thought went to Lester." She smiled and I could tell she was remembering something._

"_Lester was one of my best friends, he understands me and how I think. He is open with me about most of his past unless it's classified, he cares about me for me and accepts me. I'm falling for him and fast, I knew I cared about him and even loved him as a friend but it is turning into so much more and I like it." I thought about that. She was right._

"_If he ever hurts you I'll kill him." She laughed._

"_You'll have to get in line because I think your brother might lead that pack." I chuckled, so this was the boss he talked about. I could see why he loved her. _

"_Lester wants to come work for you." _

"_I know and I hope he does."_

"_I figured. So what's the dynamic with Diego and Marion?" I questioned._

"_Let's go back in there you will definitely get a kick out of it." We walked in the living room and more people had piled in. Diego was there along with Marion and some other guy I didn't know. _

_She introduced Ryan and we already new Danny and Eric from the Army but judging by the looks they were giving us if we so much as hurt a hair on her head they would kill us. She always did have a way with people. _

_She walked by to set back on Lester's lap when Ryan yanked on her and pulled her into his lap. She hit him in the back of the head and laughed getting up. Lester just smiled at them and I know I looked confused because I was. _

"_Diego, Ranger wants to know about our dynamic?" He laughed full out belly laugh. _

"_Well bro, Boss here loves me, Marion, and Ryan. We are her favorites but she also likes to bust our balls. We've tried hitting on her but she turns us down every time. Ry here is very persistent though and has yet to give up." They all started laughing even Lester. What the hell? They are just confusing me even more. Finally he continued._

"_Really we just all hit it off and became best friends. Adrianna even loves her and she hates me around other women. Ryan does make a lot of sexual remarks but it's all in good fun. Marion well he usually spends his time hitting us in the back of the head for the things we say." Interesting. _

"_What about business? How is that going?" I asked really wondering how things were going for them. _

"_It's great Batman. We just signed some federal contracts and will be extremely busy starting soon." Lula told me._

"_What kind of contracts?" _

"_They are contracting us to pick up fugitives they can't find." I nodded. Another interesting fact since I also am contracted with them. _

"_Alright, Everyone out. I'm going to bed and will talk to everyone tomorrow. Danny have a great vacation even though your only going to be next door." Steph told everybody. _

_Everyone stood up and she walked us all to the door. She held Lester's hand beside her. _

"_I'm keeping Lester tonight." She told me. I nodded and walked out and we all took the stairs except Connie and Eric they took the elevator and Lula and Danny went to the door across from Stephs._

_I still couldn't believe all this how did I not know she was here. How did I not pick up on anything, every time I talked to Diego he told me about his boss and it never clicked. Now I have to decide how to work mine and Steph's friendship because I can't imagine her not in my life._

_I also have to decide what to do about Lester and try to get comfortable with there relationship no matter how much it pisses me off that it's not me and never could be me. _


	14. Chapter 14

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. Reviews Please! This story is coming to an end there are only a couple chapters left. There is a SMUT warning for this chapter. ; )**_

_Steph's POV_

As soon as everyone left, Lester and I went straight to the bedroom and I changed into one of his shirts that I had taken out of his duffel. I went in the bathroom and did my nightly business before crawling into bed. Lester came to bed shortly after, he crawled in and pulled me to him.

We were laying face to face and I smiled at him. Just being near him made me smile. He leaned down and kissed me with such passion and want that I had never felt before. I kissed him back with the same amount of passion and want. I let my hands roam up his chest and considering he was shirtless and only had on a pair of boxers I could feel all of his muscles ripple at my touch.

He slowly slid his hand up my shirt but stopped on my stomach, I stopped kissing him and looked at him. His eyes were hooded with passion and lust and another emotion I tried to not identify.

"Are you sure Baby?" He asked me. I couldn't speak so I just nodded.

I pulled my shirt off while we were apart and then pulled his face back to me. We began kissing again and he slowly moved one hand up my body while the other tangled in my hair. He was beyond an amazing kisser. He moved his hand up and cupped my breast in his hand before moving and tweaking my nipple.

He moved his hand to the other breast and began to give it equal treatment. I didn't know if I could make it much longer without him inside him. I moved one of my hands down his body until I reached his huge cock. I began stroking it, increasing pressure each time I moved my hand up and down.

He moved his hand down my body and pulled my panties off of me and began to circle my clit with his finger before plunging two of them into my core. I gasped at the sensation and looked at him, his eyes full of desire.

"Les, I need you inside me now!"

He moved his body so that he was on top of me and slowly entered me giving me time to adjust to his size. He began pumping in and out of me slowly, torturing me with pleasure when all I wanted was to come.

"Harder, Faster. Please Lester!"

I no more than got his name out when he slammed into me. I gripped his shoulders and wrapped my legs around him. He began slamming into me fast and hard and it was amazing. I felt my muscles began to tighten around his cock and knew I was about to get the release I had been waiting for. I was moaning at the sensation of him inside me. An odd feeling had crept over me, a feeling of completeness.

He slammed into me two more times and we both came screaming each others names. We stayed that way for a few minutes before he rolled off of me and pulled me to him.

"Beautiful, I know we are still new in this relationship but I'm falling in love with you and I wanted you to know." I kissed him and slowly pulled away from him.

"I feel the same way Lester."

We laid there exhausted and sated. Cocooned in his arms I felt sleep overtake me.

I woke the next morning to my alarm going off. Lester was already awake and pulled me closer to him letting me feel his hardness. I grinned at him.

"I've got to get down to the gym but afterwards a shower would be great. Oh and did I mention I'm really good in the shower." I said as I got up and walked into the bathroom.

I did my business and got ready for the gym. I walked out of the bathroom and Lester had his gym clothes on and walked into the bathroom. I went in the kitchen starting the coffee pot, grabbing to bottles of water, and calling Betty about breakfast before we headed down to the gym.

Lester walked into the kitchen and gave me a soft, sweet kiss. I grabbed his hand and handed him his water to head down to the gym. We took the stairs and made it to the gym while everyone was down there working out.

"Spar with me today?" I asked Lester.

"You want me to spar with you?" I nodded. "Okay Beautiful if that's what you want."

We both hopped on treadmills and began our morning routine but instead of using various equipment after the run we both went to the sparring ring. I noticed all my guys gathered around to watch the match. I wondered if I'd be able to take Lester down. I looked at him and saw the twinkle in his eyes, this was turning him on.

_Lester's POV_

I couldn't believe she wanted to spar with me but then again maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. I had seen her spar with her employees and to say she was fierce was an understatement. We began circling each other and I was watching her to see what her first move would be and she had a great blank face.

She struck out with a hell of a right hook that shocked me to say the least. We went back forth block and throwing, we had to have been in the ring for at least 30 minutes and then she did a roundhouse kick to my stomach and I'd be a liar if I said it didn't hurt.

She followed it up with an uppercut and I was surprised at her strength. We began circling each other again and that was when I noticed Tank, Bobby, and Ranger watching. I had no idea when they showed up but I could tell they were shocked. Me looking at them threw my guard off and Steph kicked me in the back of the leg causing me to go down.

All of her guys were cheering her on and shouting about how their boss can kick ass. I just smiled as I got up and felt pain in my ribs from her kicks and the few punches I took to them. She climbed out of the ring and Diego threw his arm around her.

"Damn Boss, you sparred for over an hour." I heard him tell her. She just smiled at him as he handed her a bottle of water. "Adrianna wants to know if you want to go to dinner with us tonight?" He asked her.

"We'll see. Tell her I'll call her later." He nodded and walked off.

She walked back over to me with another bottle of water and a towel. I wiped my face off and then pulled her to me and kissed her again.

"Shower?" She asked.

I nodded and she started pulling me to the door when she noticed Tank, Ranger, and Bobby. I heard her mutter under her breath but had no idea what she was saying. She smiled at them.

"If you'll excuse us we are going to take a shower. Have Diego or Marion show you to the break room. We'll be there shortly." They nodded as Marion and Diego walked over and started talking to them.

She pulled me to the elevator and we rode it up to her apartment. We barely made it in the door before I had my hands on her and her hands on me. We finally made it to the bathroom and both stripped down, she turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature and pulled me in the shower with her.

As soon as we were in the shower, I had her up against the shower wall and she had her legs wrapped around my waist and arms around my neck. I had one arm on the wall holding us steady and the other arm wrapped around her waist and I entered her hard and fast.

It didn't take any time for us both to go flying over the edge in pleasure. After we came down from our orgasms we both washed ourselves and I washed her hair. We got out of the shower and she handed me a towel as she dried herself off. She grabbed her robe off the door and walked into her room grabbing some clothes.

She put on black lace panties with a matching bra that had my cock twitching again. She then put on her uniform and started strapping on her guns. I put on my uniform and began strapping on my weapons. I bet we make one hell of a couple with all the weapons we have on us.

We sat down at the bar in the kitchen, Betty had brought up bagels and fruit spread. Steph fixed us each a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice. She began eating her bagel but she kept watching me out the corner of her eyes.

"What's up baby?" I asked truly curious as to what was going on in her head.

"I know that you are going to be leaving today to go back to Trenton and I don't want to be away from you just yet. I've loved us being able to spend our nights together." I pulled her into my arms.

Damn, this was hard. I didn't want to leave her either. Maybe I needed to talk to Ranger about me staying here. I couldn't do this to her or even to myself. I smiled at her.

"Maybe I won't have to leave. I'm going to talk to Ranger but if I do get to stay here where will I stay?" I wanted to let her make the decision.

"I know it's soon but I want you up here with me unless your not comfortable with that." I couldn't speak I was so overwhelmed with joy and as a Big Bad Ass I don't do joy so I leaned in and kissed her.

"I will have to go back and get all my things and my car." She nodded against me and I tightened my arms around her.

"Let's go down and we can talk to Ranger in your office." We pulled away from each other and made our way down to her office.

_Steph's POV_

_We walked into the break room and I looked at the Merry Men and Ranger. _

"_Follow me to my office please." I said and they all got up. _

_I turned and walked to my office stopping to unlock the door and turn on the lights. I went and set behind my desk and Lester and Ranger set in my wingback chairs while Tank and Bobby set on the couch. I turned on my computer out of habit when sitting at my desk. Lester started speaking to Ranger. _

"_Ranger, I'd really like to stay here. I know my contract says that I have to stay employed by Rangeman for another six months but is there anything we can do to get me here." Ranger looked like he was thinking about it. _

"_Lester, I know you want to be here with Stephanie but I just don't know if that's for the best." Really, as opposed to us being apart. He's jealous. Batman is jealous!_

"_Ranger, Jealousy doesn't look good on you. Cut the crap." I heard Tank and Bobby both gasp at me saying that to him. _

"_Stephanie." He said in what was supposed to be his warning tone but he's on my playground right now._

"_Ranger, I have a business to run and shit to do. Cut the shit and let's be honest. I want Lester here and if necessary you can contract him out to me since I have an injured employee. If not I'm sure he has a copy of his contract and I'll contact my attorney and see if we can get him out of it." Ranger's eyes widened slightly at the way I talked to him. _

_He's used to me backing down and that's just not going to happen this time. _

"_Stephanie, since you chose to be rude I don't think we can come to a business agreement." I saw Lester's jaw tighten and knew this was about to get ugly. _

"_Dammit Ranger, I quit then! I don't care what the damn contract says. You have no right to be an asshole to Stephanie. Which I might remind you is grounds for termination. Either way I'll be out of my apartment by Sunday." Ranger nodded and got up and strolled out. _

_Tank and Bobby each stood up and walked over to me. Tank hugged me first and whispered in my ear. _

"_He's mad that you left and are now with Lester. Give him time." I nodded before speaking._

"_I understand that but that is no reason for him to treat me the way he did. I thought we had a nice private talk in my office yesterday but apparently that isn't the case. Even if he doesn't come around its not my problem." Tank nodded back and released. _

_Bobby hugged me next. "See you soon Bomber, with Marion, you, and Lester all here I'll be here every chance I get." I squeezed him tighter. _

_We released each other and he walked out of the office. I looked at Lester and walked over sitting on his lap and kissing him. Then I realized he said he was going to be out by Sunday and it was Friday. We had to get all of his stuff moved up here over the weekend and store all of his furniture._

"_What can I do to help your day go by faster Beautiful?" He asked._

"_You can help me go over all the reports I have on two federal fugitives and highlight any information that might help us." He started on those while I read through takedown reports. _

_I finished those and Lester was still sitting on the couch going over the files I gave him. I called in Marion and asked him to go get any new files from the Bond's offices. I began running more searches on the fugitives based on some Alias's that Lester thought they might be using. _

_Marion dropped off new files and I sat them in my inbox to look over later. Lunch time came quickly and we went and grabbed a couple sandwiches and yogurt from the break room. We walked back in the officeto eat and work. It was comfortable to work with him and it was easy. _

_The searches finally finished on the Alias's and one of them looked promising. I started highlighting all the information I thought we might be able to use and handed them to Lester. I started going through the new FTA files and pulled up who didn't have any FTA's to pick up so I could assign the new ones. I got them assigned and put them on the necessary desks. _

_It was 4 by the time we were finished and I shut off my computer and we went upstairs. Once we were upstairs I called Betty about dinner before sitting down on the couch. _

"_Beautiful, I don't know how you do it. Even with me helping you, you were busy all day."_

"_It's all part of being the boss. Had you not of helped me I'd probably have worked until 7 tonight." He shook his head and pulled me to him on the couch. _

_I flipped on the TV and settled on ESPN Classic. Apparently I fell asleep during it because the next thing I know Lester was waking me up with feather soft kisses all over my face._

"_Baby, Dinner is here" I nodded and slowly got up._

"_I really need to introduce you to Betty. I'll call her up here later so you can be properly introduced. _

_We walked into the dining area and she had brought up salads, steak, and roasted potatoes. We both sat and ate with me moaning through the whole thing. After dinner we rinsed our plates and I called Betty as soon as she came in I introduced her to Lester. _

"_Betty this is Lester my boyfriend." She smiled politely at him. _

"_Lester this is Betty our in house mother." She smiled and kissed me on the cheek._

"_Betty, dinner was absolutely wonderful." _

"_Thank you Dear. Will Lester be joining you regularly?" _

"_Yes, he will. He is moving in this weekend." She nodded and kissed him on the cheek._

_I heard her whisper in his ear. "If you hurt her after all of her employees are done with you I will bend you over my knee." He smiled at her and nodded._

_As soon as she walked out of the apartment I couldn't help but laugh, imagining my little housekeeper bending my huge boyfriend over her knee was just to funny. _

_We spent the rest of the night lounging on the couch watching TV and occasionally talking. My phone actually managed to stay quiet for the evening. At 10 we both cleaned up and cuddled in bed. Our night was spent much like the night before. I finally fell asleep around midnight. _


	15. Chapter 15

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. Review Please as this story is coming to an end. There will only be one more chapter after this one. I truly hope everyone has enjoyed this story as I have enjoyed writing it. ; )**_

_Steph's POV_

I woke up Saturday morning at 5 and realized I didn't have to go to the gym today and I wasn't going to, I also realized I did need to get ready since we needed to start moving Lester's stuff here. He contacted a storage facility, apparently while I was sleeping on him yesterday evening, and he would be able to store all of his furniture there.

As soon as I rolled out of bed Lester was up. We showered together and then I got dressed in tight low rise jeans, a black racerback tank that said 'A hard woman is good to find' in hot pink with a curved barbell above it, and a pair of black and hot pink Nike Shox. I had my gun in a holster at the small of my back and a light leather jacket to cover it. I had my knife in a sheath strapped to my ankle.

I walked into the bedroom and Lester was wearing dark denim jeans that hugged all the right places on him, an olive green Affliction shirt that had a skull on and said ' Affliction' under that it said 'Seek, Never Say Die' above the skull under the skull it said '& Destroy', and a pair of Doc Marten Boots. He looked Hot.

I walked over to Les and Raised up on my tip toes to kiss him and he kissed me back. He looked at my shirt and laughed.

"You like it?" I asked.

"I do." I smiled at him.

"I have surprise for you later so we have to be back in the city by 6 pm." I told him with a mischievous smile.

"What kind of surprise?"

"I can't tell you, that would ruin the surprise." He just nodded and walked into the kitchen.

We left the apartment I had already let Betty know we didn't need breakfast this morning that we would be picking something up on our way to Trenton. I walked over and knocked on Danny's door and Lula opened it.

"Hey, White girl. What's up?"

"We are headed to Trenton to pack up Lester's apartment. He quit Rangeman and is moving here." Lula smiled and pulled Lester for a hug.

"I'm glad! I can tell how happy he makes you. So Lester you coming to work for us."

"Yep." Lula looked at me.

"He staying in one of the apartments downstairs or with you?"

"Me." I replied. Her smile got even bigger as Danny came to the door.

"Anyways what I was here about is we are taking my personal vehicle and one of the Navigators." Danny shook his head and walked away and came back a few seconds later and handed me his truck keys.

"The truck will work better than an SUV. Drive my truck and he can drive your SUV." He looked at Lester. "Welcome to TNT Man" Lester nodded and said "Thanks."

We rode the elevator down to the garage and Lester hopped in my SUV while I jumped in Danny's truck. We drove down to the Diner a block away for breakfast. I ordered biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon and a coffee, Lester ordered the same thing. He reached across the table and held my hand.

"I'm so glad I don't have to leave you this time." I smiled.

"Me too! I don't know how I would have handled you leaving." He nodded and then we moved on to the subject of how we were going to get everything of his moved.

Bobby rented a U-Haul for him and had taken the day off to help us get everything moved. He was planning on spending the night in NYC so he could spend some more time with us and Marion. I was beginning to worry how Diego was going to respond to everything going on between Ranger and I. I guess I would find out soon.

We finished breakfast and drove to Trenton in our separate vehicles. We pulled in to the Rangeman parking garage and I rode the elevator with Lester up to his fourth floor apartment. Bobby was waiting for us at the apartment and I noticed the U-Haul truck when we pulled in. Lester unlocked his door and started telling us where he wanted us to work.

Bobby had gotten boxes from U-Haul so we didn't have to worry about that. Lester was going to pack up his bedroom and bathroom, Bobby and I were doing the living room. Everything in the kitchen belonged to Rangeman, all the cups, plates, and silverware were provided even the pots and pans that I doubt Lester ever used.

I grabbed boxes and started boxing up his DVDs and Cds. While Bobby boxed up everything on his bookshelf. Once I finished with his movies and music, I started taking down his pictures and boxing them up. Bobby and I finished quickly since there wasn't much to pack in the living room.

I walked into the bedroom to help Lester as he walked out of the closet holding some of his clothes. All of his Rangeman clothes would be left here and Monday I was ordering his TNT uniforms. I was thinking off partnering him with Marion or Diego, I definitely wouldn't put him with Ry they were way too much alike.

"Baby, I'm almost finished in here, do you want to start on the bathroom?" He asked me.

"Yeah." I said as I got up, grabbed a box and walked into the bathroom.

We had been packing up stuff for about 3 hours and when we were finished we were meeting my dad and grandma at Shorty's for lunch. My mom wasn't coming and didn't even know I was in Trenton because I didn't feel like hearing how much of a disappointment I was.

I got Lester's bathroom packed up quickly since there wasn't much there. I walked out of the bathroom with the box as he finished in his bedroom. We hadn't seen Ranger which was fine with me, Lester and I walked in the living room and Bobby was wrapping up the TV to put in a box.

We started carrying boxes down to the vehicles to load up. All the boxes would fit in the truck with a couple going in my SUV. Once we had all those loaded the guys started carrying down the furniture that could be taken apart. The rest we would use the bay that opened on one side of the building. Bobby moved the U-Haul truck and they got all the furniture loaded into it.

Lester did one last walk through of his apartment and then carried all of his Rangeman issued things up to the fifth floor and put them on his desk. This included uniforms, three weapons, key fob, and cell phone. I had already gotten him a TNT issued cell phone so it wasn't a big deal.

We all loaded into the vehicle we were driving and drove the short distance to Shorty's. We walked in and dad and grandma hadn't showed up yet. I was honestly surprised at how fast we were able to pack Lester up but he really didn't have a lot of stuff. We sat down in a back booth to wait on Dad and Grandma and they showed up about ten minutes later.

I stood up and hugged my Dad and Grandma, we all sat back down with dad shaking hands with Lester and Bobby. It was 11:30 once we all were sat down and ready to order. We ordered our pizza and drinks before we started talking.

"You look good pumpkin."

"Thanks Daddy." I said with smile.

"You sure do Baby granddaughter and I like that shirt." I laughed at my grandma.

"So which one of these hunks is yours?" Grandma asked.

"This one is." I replied pointing at Lester.

"Well there both big and I bet they both have huge packages. You should take them both on." I know my face turned bright red at that statement.

Dad muttered. 'Crazy old bat."

We made small talk and I told them how business was going and how Connie and Lula were doing. Dad told me how Mom, Val, and the girls were doing. While Grandma filled me in on Burg gossip. Rumor had it that Joe was getting ready to propose to the teacher he was seeing. I smiled at that truly happy that he found someone who wanted the same things as him.

Our lunch was delivered and we all devoured the pizza and I paid before walking out of Shorty's. I gave Dad and Grandma hugs at the door before walking to my truck. Dad walked over and talked to Lester which I would have to find out about later. We were all loading into the vehicles when we saw Ranger, Tank, Ram, and Vince pull up. We got in the vehicles and pulled out of Shorty's.

The drive back to NYC was a long one and we were stopping at the storage facility first to unload all the furniture before going to the apartment. Betty would probably be waiting on us to unpack all of Lester's things and I can only hope he won't mind.

We got everything unloaded at the Storage unit fairly quickly but considering it was two muscle bound men I shouldn't be surprised. They followed me back to TNT and we all started carrying boxes to my apartment. Danny saw us and came down to help. When we got the last boxes set in my apartment Betty was there and began unpacking them.

"You all go do something. I'll get this stuff put away." I leaned down and kissed Betty on the cheek.

"Thanks Betty."

"No problem Dear." Lester leaned down and kissed her other cheek and smiled at her.

"I do appreciate it." She just smiled back at him.

We left the apartment and I decided we were going to go see what the three amigos were doing. We rode the elevator down to there floor and I knocked on their apartment door. Diego opened the door and I saw Adrianna, Marion, and Ryan all sitting on the floor.

"Hey Boss, Lester. What's up?"

"Seeing what my three goofs were up to." He opened the door wider and we walked in.

Lester set down in one of the chairs and I plopped down on top of him. I introduced him to Adrianna and looked back at Diego and could tell something was bothering him.

"What's up Diego, I can tell something is wrong. Talk to me." He gave me a tight smile.

"Diego tell her or I will" Spoke Adrianna. Whatever it was it wasn't good.

"Carlos is pissed at you and Lester and told me if I didn't quit my job and move to Trenton he wouldn't speak to me anymore." I shook my head and dug out my phone.

"Diego, I'm using your bedroom." He just nodded and I walked in there while I dialed Ranger's number.

He answered on the second ring.

"Yo."

"What the hell is your problem?" I asked

"Stephanie, what are you talking about?" Oh Play stupid HUH.

"I'm talking about you threatening Diego. What the hell is your problem I didn't do what you wanted so you decided to try and take one of my best employees."

"You took one of mine."

"That's where your wrong Ranger. Lester quit because you were being an asshole not because I threatened him or anything of the sort. You did the shit to yourself."

"He never should have met you in Florida anyways."

"Why because it was him and not you. Look Ranger, I know you are used to every woman throwing themselves at you and never having to work for it. But I care for Lester actually I love Lester and I know you hate that but get over it. You don't do relationships anyways so what the hell does it matter?"

"I guess it doesn't."

"It doesn't Ranger. Look, I told you that you were one of my best friends and I will always love you as a best friend but you keep acting like this and I will not speak to you ever again. So you want any type of friendship with me you need to cut the shit."

"I'm sorry Babe. I'll call Diego and apologize and I do hope we can be friends."

"Thanks, Ranger." I hung up and Lester was standing in the doorway.

"You love me?" He asked me. I walked over to him and kissed him.

"I do." He smiled wide and kissed me.

"I love you too Baby."

We walked out of the bedroom and Diego was on the phone. Once he hung up he smiled at me.

"Carlos apologized." I just nodded my head.

"Hey we're going to Taboo tonight. Do you all want to go and do not say what Taboo does. It's a surprise for Lester." They all got big smiles and nodded.

Taboo is a tattoo shop and I'm getting my first tattoo there tonight. I have been with almost everyone I work with there to get their tattoos but now I want one of my own.

"What time?" Adrianna asked.

"6."

"We'll be there." She said.

"Hell Yeah, we'll be there! Are you going to undress or at least partially undress?" Asked Ry and Marion knocked him upside the head.

"Doesn't matter Ry, either way you won't be seeing it." I replied laughing at the damn goof ball.

"Let's go to Dinner." Marion said after a few minutes.

"Where do you want to go?" I questioned them.

"Chilango's" Responded the three amigos.

I shouldn't be surprised that's their favorite place to eat. Chilango's is a Mexican restaurant that has the best food.

The evening went by quick with all of us goofing off. We went and ate dinner at Chilango's and goofed off some more and then it was time to head to Taboo. I scheduled two appointments just in case Lester wanted to get a tattoo.

We pulled up to Taboo Tattoos and Lester looked at me and smiled. Connie, Lula, Eric, and Danny were there as they had scheduled appointments to. I smiled at Lester.

"I made two appointments since I didn't know if you would want a tattoo. I wanted you with me when I lost my tattoo virginity." He laughed a full out belly laugh.

"Your tattoo virginity?"

"Yes, now stop laughing and come on."

We walked in and they were all waiting on me. Only Lester would go back with me but once that tattoos were finished they could all come back and look. I sat down and explained what I wanted done. I was having two tattoos done, well actually three.

I was having _Love _done on my right wrist and _Live _on my left wrist. The other tattoo I was having done was a very large tattoo that started mid thigh and ran up my leg and side ending right under my breast. Some of it would come around on my lower back. It was a vine with hibiscus flowers, a hummingbird, and butterflies. A piece of the vine would come out to the side so that it would also cover my lower back. The flowers were going to be done in different colors. It was going to look amazing.

My wrists were done first and honestly didn't hurt that bad. My leg, side, and back did hurt but after about an hour my skin went numb and I ended up falling asleep with Lester holding my hand. They woke me up and the tattoo artist laughed at me.

"I have never had someone fall into a deep sleep during a tattoo until you." I smiled at him and they helped me up.

I walked over to the mirror and loved the tattoo instantly. I knew pain would come later as I've seen my employees go through it but it was a beautiful tattoo and I didn't care. It was 11 pm by the time they were done with me and Lester decided to get a tattoo too.

Lester got a tattoo of a cross with wings surrounding it with a banner underneath it saying 'Psalms 144:1'.

It took two hours for his to be finished and he had it done on his right bicep. The tattoo looked amazing. The cross and wings were shaded in black and gray and faded in and out.

We left the tattoo parlor at 1:30 am and were beyond exhausted. My side tattoo was beginning to throb and all I wanted was to go crawl in my bed and sleep. Which is exactly what I did.

_**AN: Next chapter is the epilogue. **_

_**Psalms 144:1 Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:**_


	16. Epilogue

_**AN: Standard Disclaimer. This is it. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing. The only thing I could have wished for is more reviews! Happy Reading. ; )**_

_Epilogue 1 year later._

_Steph's POV_

The last year has gone by remarkably fast. We still lived at TNT and we both loved being there and close to our friends who quickly became our family. Ranger and I talked a few times and we now have a great friendship. Our companies often work together on cases.

Today was the big day though. Lester and I were getting married, we got engaged 6 months ago.

_Flashback:_

_He took me to dinner at One if by Land Two if by Sea restaurant. He wore a black tux with a blue tie and laid out a dress that he had Connie and Lula pick out that was also Blue and semi formal. _

_We had just sat down at the table and ordered our appetizers and he grabbed my hand and kept looking into my eyes. He kept that up not really talking to me all through our appetizer and dinner. Our waiter had just removed our plates when Lester got down on one knee._

"_Steph, Baby. I love you more today than yesterday but less than tomorrow. You are my heart and soul, the light to my dark, and the only woman I have ever loved. W ill you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me." I started to cry and looked in his eyes with tears streaming down mine and spoke._

"_Yes, Lester I will marry you and be the happiest woman in the world." _

_He slid the most beautiful princess cut diamond ring on my finger and then stood up. I jumped up and hugged and kissed him. He paid for dinner and we went home to celebrate._

_End Flashback._

Connie and Eric had married three months ago and Danny and Lula had married last month. Now all of us owners would be married. Diego and Adrianna were getting married in three months, Tank was getting married to a woman from Trenton that he met at a bar. Bobby had met a woman named Michelle 7 months ago and they were now happily in a serious relationship and she was now working for me. She was in the Air Force and then when she got out she moved to NYC and we met her when she started dating Bobby.

Lula was my matron of honor, Connie, Adrianna and Michelle were my bridesmaids. Bobby was the Best Man, with Danny, Eric and Diego as the groomsmen. My wedding dress was not a traditional wedding dress. It was a white strapless dress that was fitted at the top but flared out at the waist it ended just above my knees and I paired it with white wedge sandals.

My wedding party wore Turquoise dresses that were spaghetti straps they were fitted at the top and flared and fell to the knee that were paired with silver wedge sandals.. Lester was wearing khaki shorts and a white shirt with sandals and his wedding party was wearing khaki shorts and turquoise shirts with sandals.

It was a non formal wedding and I was happy with that. We only invited close friends and family and all Lester had for family was his mom and sister. I had met them quite a few times. I loved his family and I'm pretty sure they loved me too.

My mom and Val refused to come to my wedding and in many ways that was fine with me. I had gotten more tattoos in the year that passed. I now had two sticks of dynamite on my upper back and it said TNT in between them. It wasn't a large tattoo, it was actually fairly small. Actually all of us at TNT got the tattoo, but we all got it in different places.

I had also gotten two Glocks that crossed at the barrel tattooed on my stomach and it said SANTOS in between the handles of them. Lester got the same tattoo on his back. We were together all the time and with the marriage he now owned TNT with us. We already treated him like he did.

A knock on the door startled me out of my thoughts. I turned around and my dad was standing there in khaki pants with a blue button up and sandals.

"Ready Pumpkin?" He asked me.

"I am beyond ready." He grabbed my hand and we watched as the girls walked down the aisle with me and dad behind them.

As soon as I saw Lester everyone else there disappeared. Our eyes locked and a few tears fell from my eyes, I was marrying the greatest man who was my soul mate and the love of my life. We wrote our own vows because traditional just doesn't fit us.

My dad kissed my cheek as he gave me to Lester, the Justice of the Peace asked.

"And who gives her to this man?"

"I do." My father responded.

That was where tradition ended at our wedding. The J.P. smiled at us.

"Lester and Stephanie have chosen to handle the rest of the ceremony until towards the end and then I will speak again." We both nodded.

I smiled at Lester as I began to say my vows. "Lester, I love you. You are my best friend and have been for a while. Today I take you as my husband, my partner in life, and my one true love. I promise to encourage you, laugh with you, and comfort you. I promise to love you through everything life might throw our way and cherish you all the days of my life." He smiled and I saw the moisture in his eyes.

"Stephanie, I love you more today than yesterday but less than tomorrow. That I promise you. Everyday with you is an adventure and I am honored to be able to spend the rest of my life with you. I promise to encourage you, laugh with you, and comfort you when times seem hard. I promise you will always have my love. You are my heart and soul and I will cherish you all the days of my life."

Bobby handed Lester the ring for me and Connie handed me Lester's ring. I held Lester's hand.

"Lester, I give you this ring as a token of my love and devotion to you." I slid the platinum band on his finger.

"Stephanie, I give you this ring as a token of my love and devotion to you." And he slid a platinum band on my finger that had diamond inset in it.

"Stephanie Plum and Lester Santos I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride." The J.P. said.

Lester wrapped one arm around my waist and the other behind my head and dipped me down and kissed me with he everything he had. We didn't pull away until we heard all the catcalls and whistles. We had a table set up about 10 feet away from where the ceremony took place with cake and wine.

We wanted a small reception so we could get on to the good stuff, a two week honeymoon in the Caribbean. We only packed about four pairs of clothes since we don't plan on going out much. We fed each other cake which translates to we shoved cake in each others faces.

We spoke to everyone who came to the wedding and got all their well wishes and after giving my dad and grandma a hug and kiss we were loaded into a limo and on our way to the Caribbean which was a gift from TNT and Rangeman combined, I know weird right.

_**AN: I am working on another story it is being Beta'd and I will start posting soon.**_

**_I know this is way off of posting books but US Government has cut pay to the military for an indefinite amount of time. My brother is currently deployed and going through predeployment training and he will be in Afghanistan in June and he will no longer receive pay for fighting for our country. There is a bill that is being pushed named Ensuring Pay for Our Military Act of 2011 the only way to push this bill is to contact congress in your state. I ask you please do this to get out military the pay they deserve. If you don't know how to contact them there is a website contactingthecongress dot org. Click on your state and it will give you contact information most of them can be contacted through email. Thank You ladies!_**


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